1960 Burmese general election

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.

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. Meanwhile, the "Clean" faction warned against the "dangers of fascist dictatorship", and criticised the current leaders for their "drinking and womanising". The communist NUF was severely repressed by the caretaker military government and was therefore outside the two main parties.

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.

Conduct

An estimated 10,000,000 Burmese were eligible to vote. 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. 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.

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.

Results

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

Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Nationalities

References

References

1. Bigelow, Lee S. (1960). "The 1960 Elections in Burma". Institute of Pacific Relations.
2. Rotberg, Robert I. (1998). "Burma: prospects for a democratic future". Brookings Institution Press.
3. Butwell, Richard. (1960). "The 1960 Election in Burma". Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia.
4. (10 February 1960). "General Ne Win bows out". [[The Glasgow Herald]].
5. Associated Press. (9 February 1960). "'Foes' of corruption win easily in Burma election". Herald-Journal.
6. Associated Press. (10 February 1960). "U Nu victory changes trend". [[The Spokesman-Review]].
7. Grant, Bruce. (9 February 1960). "Burma states her policy". [[The Age]].
8. Butwell, Richard. (1960). "The new political outlook in Burma". Institute of Pacific Relations.
9. United Press International. (7 February 1960). "Burma voters cast ballots for deputies". [[St. Petersburg Times]].
10. Grant, Bruce. (8 February 1960). "All Asia is watching Burma's democratic election". [[The Age]].
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