June 27, 2020

The Union Election Commission and the Embassy of Switzerland organized a Code of Conduct signing ceremony for political parties at Melia Hotel in Yangon yesterday.

Present at the ceremony were UEC Chairman U Hla Thein, UEC members, foreign ambassadors, officials from international organizations, the UEC office and Yangon Region sub-commission, representatives of 83 political parties, and invited guests. The UEC Chairman first delivered an address where he said in addition to the existence of election laws and bylaws, there needs to be a code of conduct between the political parties. The Code of Conduct (CoC) for political parties and candidates was issued on 26 June 2016 with the approval of 67 political parties. The UEC Chairman said adherence to the CoC reduced the number of conflicts during the 2015 General Elections and the by-elections in 2017 and 2018. He said they had organized 7 coordination meetings between October 2019 to June 2020 to revise the CoC for improvements. Next, Technical Advisor Mr Jorge Valladares, a member of the CoC Reviewing Working Committee, and Swiss Ambassador Mr Tim Enderlin explained the drafting process of the CoC. The representatives of political parties then signed the CoC.—MNA (Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)