National League for Democracy Prepares for Elections

Last 8-10 August 2014, the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) assembled in Rangoon, Burma (Yangon, Myanmar) for the 5^th CALD Political Party Management Workshop with the theme, “Project 2015: Winning Elections Towards Continuing Reforms”.  The choice of Burma could not have been more appropriate, as the country is gearing for the by-elections by the end of 2014, and for the general elections next year.  The National League for Democracy (NLD) hosted the event in its Capacity Development Centre, which was participated in by around 40 prospective candidates and campaign officials from the party.

The 3-day workshop aimed to capacitate the CALD member parties and the NLD with the knowledge and skills in winning elections, drawing from electoral theory and practice in the Asian context.  CALD members from Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand came to share their experiences on various aspects of the campaign plan such as strategies and tactics, organizing, communications, intelligence gathering and dirty tricks prevention, financing and resource mobilization, and poll watching and canvassing.

The workshop was divided into two main parts.  The first part dealt with the current political terrain and electoral framework in Burma and how these would impact on the upcoming elections.  Two issues stood out: (1) the move to amend the 2008 constitution, particularly the provision dealing with constitutional amendments; and (2) the attempt to change the electoral system from ‘first-past-the-post’ to proportional representation or some kind of a mixed system.  In the second part, the mechanics of ‘winning elections: what, why and how’ was discussed with the goal of helping the NLD set up a national campaign structure.

“The workshop has been very helpful because the participants include the party’s main organizers, and most of them never had the opportunity to attend a workshop of this kind of international standards”, said Dr. Myo Aung of NLD’s Central Executive Committee.

Daw Mya Mya Htay, one of the participants in the workshop, shared: “In the past 25 years, we only had experience of 2 elections.  That is why it is very useful for us to learn from the experiences of other countries so that we can work more effectively in the upcoming elections.”

Ms. Concepcion “Chit” Asis, former Director General of the Liberal Party of the Philippines, facilitated the workshop with the support of Dr. Julio “July” Teehankee, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, De La Salle University, Philippines.