A Burmese junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) official said that it would enact a new Political Parties Registration Law before the junta’s planned election, due to be held in 2023.

The comment was made by UEC spokesperson, Khin Maung Oo, during a UEC Information Team press conference on 18 November. He said that the reason for enacting the new law was to strengthen political parties.

Khin Maung Oo said: “There were more than 90 political parties [in the 2020 general elections] but, only 20 of them won parliamentary seats.” He added that most of the political parties that contested the 2020 elections were so weak that they were only able to field candidates in three constituencies.

Khin Maung Oo did not elaborate on how the law would be modified to strengthen political parties. Observers have no idea of what the intended law changes will be, but most believe that any changes in electoral laws are likely to favour the junta's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Holding new elections is one of the points in the junta’s five-point road map. But, anti-junta protesters in Myanmar and most international observers have said that any elections organised by the junta will be neither free nor fair and will be nothing but a sham designed to improve the junta’s international standing by giving it a veneer of legitimacy.