Myanmar's ruling party promises clean, fair election

Myanmar's ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), on Saturday vowed to work for a clean and fair general election set for November 8, according to a statement of the party's chairman U Shwe Mann.

Meeting with the party's central executive committee members in Nay Pyi Taw, U Shwe Mann, who is also speaker of the parliament, said the party's candidates must compete in the elections in accordance with the "code of conduct for political parties and candidates", Xinhua news agency reported.

He spelled out the party's policy that candidates with good character, who serve the interests of the nation and the people, would be selected and nominated.

He urged the candidates representing the party to take part in building a federal democratic union.

U Shwe Mann's statement came days after the Union Election Commission (UEC) announced November 8 as the date for holding the country's general election.

The commission has urged political parties to submit the list of their candidates in terms of levels of the parliament and constituencies from July 20 to August 8 to compete in the election and approval will be given after scrutiny.

The commission has designated 1,171 constituencies across the country for the vote at four levels of parliament representatives with 330 constituencies set for election of the House of Representatives (lower house), 168 constituencies for the House of Nationalities (upper house), 644 constituencies for regional or state parliaments and 29 constituencies for regional or state parliaments in the national race.

According to the commission, there are 83 registered political parties in Myanmar and each of them is set to compete in at least three constituencies.

The 2015 general elections will elect representatives to the next term of the parliament which will form the government starting 2016.