“Now that ethnic parties have allied with one another and prepared, we can’t fully rely on the power of the party. While the NLD is still expected to do better than other parties in 2020, its majority could suffer severe losses, say analysts. 3 Shwe Mann, the influential former lower house speaker who has been Suu Kyi’s ally, last week announced the formation of a new political force, the Union Betterment Party. He has tempted other groups, including ethnic parties, to launch a joint bid for power. The International Crisis Group said in a report from January that the fighting signified “a dangerous shift from politics to insurgency as the means of addressing ethnic Rakhine grievances”.

Source: bd News24 February 14, 2019 08:15 UTC