General elections were held in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

to vote for 202 out of 250 seats to the Burmese Chamber of Deputies; the remaining 48 members (all from the

Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League The Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), ; abbreviated , ''hpa hsa pa la'' was the dominant political alliance in Burma from 1945 to 1958. It consisted of political parties and mass and class organizations. The league evolved out of ...

, AFPFL) were elected unopposed as no opposition candidates stood against them. The AFPFL, a former wartime resistance organisation, won the elections with a reduced majority. After the election,

U Nu Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...

, leader of the AFPFL, temporarily retired to reform the party and its policies. The second part of the election to elect members to the

Chamber of Nationalities The Chamber of Nationalities ( my, လူမျိုးစုလွှတ်တော်) was the upper house of the bicameral Union Parliament of Burma (Myanmar) from 1948 to 1962. Under the 1947 Constitution, bills initiated and passed by the ...

took place on 22 May after the election commission stated that "rebel intimidation and the lack of security prevented the people from exercising freedom of choice". Voter turnout was 47.8%.

Campaign

The AFPFL,

National United Front The National United Front ( my, အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေး တပ်ပေါင်းစု) was a political alliance in Burma. History The alliance was formed in 1955 as a successor to the People's Democratic Fro ...

(NUF) and smaller parties participated in the election. The NUF was successful in gaining media attention and organising trade union and peasant organisations. However, the AFPFL was concerned at alleged funding by foreign embassies of the NUF. A number of smaller parties represented different

ethnic groups An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

and were more local than national. Meanwhile, U Nu of the AFPFL advocated his long held policy of neutrality.

Conduct

After identifying themselves and voting, voters would dip their forefinger in green indelible ink. Opposition parties complained of minor irregularities regarding election lists. Due to the security situation, the army was told to ensure free and fair elections but not to intimidate voters. Students in the capital Rangoon had threatened to cause disorder after one of their leaders was killed by police, however this did not materialise.

Results

References

{{Burmese elections Elections in Myanmar 1956 in Burma

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results