Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD)

Shan State

Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) was founded in 1988 and is the largest political party in Shan State. Its leaders were imprisoned in 2005 for trying to unite all Shan parties, including armed groups. The party re-registered again in 2012 and contested the 2015 election. The SNLD plans to contest the 2020 election mostly in Mandalay Division, Shan State and Kayah State. The party advocates federalism in accordance with the 1947 Panglong Agreement. Its leader is Hkhun Htun Oo, nephew of former Shan hereditary ruler, Sao Kya Seng, who disappeared in 1962 after the coup that led to five decades of military rule. Hkhun Htun Oo spent six years in prison after seeking to organize Shan parties, and was released in a 2011 amnesty as Myanmar began its democratic transition. He is expected to relinquish the party’s chairmanship soon.