1960 Burmese general election

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1960 Burmese general election
Flag of Burma (1948-1974).svg
  1956 6 February 1960 1974  

All 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
126 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
  U Nu portrait.jpg Ba Swe.jpg No image.svg
Leader U Nu Kyaw Nyein & Ba Swe (pictured)
Party Clean AFPFL Stable AFPFL NUF
Seats won158413
Seat changeNewNewDecrease2.svg45

Prime Minister before election

Ne Win
Military

Prime Minister-elect

U Nu
AFPFL

General elections were held in Burma on 6 February 1960 to install a government to take over from General Ne Win's interim administration, established in October 1958. The military-led administration was credited for bringing stability and improving infrastructure in the country, though it suppressed some civil liberties. [1]

Contents

The elections were seen as not so much a contest between the Clean AFPFL of U Nu against the Stable AFPFL of Kyaw Nyein and Ba Swe, but a referendum on the policies of the interim military government between 1958 and 1960. [2] The result was a victory for the Clean AFPFL, which won 157 of the 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

The elections set a precedent to other Middle Eastern and South Asian leaders, where the military voluntarily handed over to a civilian government and held free elections. [3] However, only two years after his election victory, U Nu was overthrown in a coup d'état led by General Ne Win on 2 March 1962.

Campaign

The Clean AFPFL, led by U Nu, and Stable AFPFL, led by U Kyaw Nyein and U Ba Swe, had been formed after a split in the main AFPFL party in June 1958. Until the military took over in October 1958, U Nu relied on the communists to retain a majority in parliament. [4]

Despite the formation of the two parties, there were no major ideological differences between them and their policies were similar, especially with regards to non-alignment, although the Stable faction favoured industrialisation and the Clean faction spoke more of agricultural development. [5] The Stable faction had given the impression it was favoured by the army, but, after realising the army was not as favoured as first thought, distanced itself. [5] It had also argued it represented stability. [6] Meanwhile, the "Clean" faction warned against the "dangers of fascist dictatorship", [7] and criticised the current leaders for their "drinking and womanising". [8] The communist NUF was severely repressed by the caretaker military government and was therefore outside the two main parties. [9]

The Clean AFPFL chose yellow to campaign, as it was the colour worn by monks, while the Stable AFPFL chose red and the National United Front chose blue. [7]

Conduct

An estimated 10,000,000 Burmese were eligible to vote. [10] The military largely stayed away on voting day, although it was present at some ballot boxes. Boxes for the "Clean" faction featured pictures of U Nu which the "Stable" faction and other smaller parties alleged confused the voter into thinking they were voting for Nu personally. [9] Polls closed at 6 pm and a crowd estimated at 20,000 gathered at the Sule Pagoda in the capital Rangoon to hear results as they were posted. [5] The "Clean" faction took all 9 seats in the capital including one they were prepared to concede, while the "Stable" faction had some strength in the countryside. [11]

Media coverage of the event was restricted to print media only and vigorously covered, but was largely ignored by the state-run Burma Broadcasting Service which had not aired opposition coverage since before the AFPFL split. [9]

Results

Voter turnout was the highest in a Burmese election. [12] U Nu, remarking on his victory, said "I guess people like us". [7]

Chamber of Deputies

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Clean AFPFL 158New
Stable AFPFL 41New
National United Front 3–45
Arakanese National Unity Organisation 60
Shan State United Hill People's Organisation 6–8
Kachin National Congress 3+1
Mon National Front 3New
People's Educational and Cultural Development Organisation 2–2
Chin National Organisation 1New
Kayah National United League 1New
Kayah Democratic League 1New
All Nationalist Alliance0New
All-Shan State Organisation 0–4
Buddhist Democratic Party0New
Burma Democratic Party 00
Burma Nationalist Party 0–1
Independents and other parties10
Vacant15
Total2500
Total votes6,000,000
Registered voters/turnout10,000,00060.00
Source: Butwell & Von der Mehden Nohlen et al.

Chamber of Nationalities

PartySeats
Clean AFPFL 53
Stable AFPFL 29
Minority parties43
Total125
Source: Nohlen et al.

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References

  1. Bigelow, Lee S (1960). "The 1960 Elections in Burma". Far Eastern Survey. Institute of Pacific Relations. 29 (5): 70–74. doi:10.2307/3024046. JSTOR   3024046.
  2. Rotberg, Robert I (1998). Burma: prospects for a democratic future. Brookings Institution Press. p. 43. ISBN   978-0-8157-7581-2.
  3. Butwell, Richard; von der Mehden, Fred (1960). "The 1960 Election in Burma". Pacific Affairs. Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia. 33 (2): 144–157. doi:10.2307/2752941. JSTOR   2752941.
  4. "General Ne Win bows out". The Glasgow Herald . 10 February 1960.
  5. 1 2 3 Grant, Bruce (8 February 1960). "All Asia is watching Burma's democratic election". The Age .
  6. Associated Press (9 February 1960). "'Foes' of corruption win easily in Burma election". Herald-Journal.
  7. 1 2 3 Associated Press (10 February 1960). "U Nu victory changes trend". The Spokesman-Review .
  8. Grant, Bruce (9 February 1960). "Burma states her policy". The Age .
  9. 1 2 3 Butwell, Richard (1960). "The new political outlook in Burma". Far Eastern Survey. Institute of Pacific Relations. 29 (2): 21–27. doi:10.2307/3024460. JSTOR   3024460.
  10. United Press International (7 February 1960). "Burma voters cast ballots for deputies". St. Petersburg Times .
  11. Associated Press (9 February 1960). "U Nu 'cleans' bidding for sweep in voting". Daytona Beach Morning Journal.
  12. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p603 ISBN   0-19-924958-X