Housewives band together to fight for rights
Furious: That’s how Mi Than Shin said she felt when the Union Election Commission (UEC) told her and her colleagues they could not register a political organisation under the name Women’s Party.
On April 27, the commission sent a letter to the founding members, who are all based in the Mon State capital Mawlamyine, asking them to change the name to something more specific. The letter suggested adding another word to the name, perhaps before “Women’s”, after “Party” or between the two words, but gave no legal pretext for making the request.
Commission officials were later quoted as saying that the request was made because the name was too similar to that of another registered party – without specifying which – and that under the Political Parties Registration Law they could direct the Women’s Party applicants to choose a different name.
The Women’s Party was not the only group to receive this instruction – the newly formed National Development Party had initially tried to register as the National Party, but was told their proposed name was also too broad.
But for Mi Than Shin, the party’s driving force, it was an unreasonable demand. The party was designed to represent all women, she said – even “all women around the world”. Changing the name would only diminish its scope.
Believing the party had been unfairly targeted, she drove to Nay Pyi Taw to take the issue up with the commission. However,she was not given a meeting with any of its 16 members.
