General elections were held in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

on 26 November 1936. The Government of Burma Act 1935 separated Burma from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

as of 1 April 1937, and created a 36-seat Senate and a 132-seat House of Representatives."Legislature and Electors Burma at the Polls", The Times, 20 April 1937, p37, Issue 47663 The pro-constitution United GCBA of U Ba Pe emerged as the largest bloc in the House of Representatives, winning 46 seats. However, few parties were willing to work with U Ba Pe,"Divided Burma: Launching The Constitution", ''The Times'', 11 February 1937, p13, Issue 47606 and the Governor invited Ba Maw to form a government,"Burma On Her Own First Year Of Separation, State In The Making", ''The Times'', 14 April 1938, p13, Issue 47969 despite his Poor Man's Party winning only 16 seats. Maw became Chief Minister after forming a coalition with Chit Hlaing and other "moderate extremists"."The Imperial Conference Opening Speeches, Expressions Of Common Loyalty ", ''The Times'', 15 May 1937, p17, Issue 47685

Electoral system

The 132 seats in House of Representatives consisted of 91 members elected in single-member non-communal constituencies and 41 members elected from reserved seats. However, large areas of the country in the north and east including the

Shan States The Shan States were a collection of minor Shan people, Shan kingdoms called ''mueang, möng'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' (''sawbwa''). In British rule in Burma, British Burma, they were analogous to the princely states of Britis ...

remained directly governed by the Governor and did not elect members of the House. Half of the 36 seats in the Senate were appointed by the Governor, whilst the remaining half were elected by members of the House of Representatives.

Campaign

Several of the reserved seats were uncontested, including Bassein North (Karen), Mandalay Indian Urban, the three-member European constituency, the Burmese Chamber of Commerce seat, the Nakkukottai Chettyar's Association seat, the five-member Burma Chamber of Commerce constituency, the Rangoon Trades Association seat and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce seat.

Results

Aftermath

Despite winning the most seats, the United GCBA was unable to form a government as the party began to split soon after the elections. This allowed the Poor Man's Party to put together a coalition government which took power in March 1937; it included former People's Party member U Pu, U Paw Tun from the Hlaing-Myat-Paw GCBA, Saw Pe Tha from the Karen group and U Htoon Aung Gyaw from the Arakanese. Poor Man's Party MPs U Tharrawaddy Maung Maung and Thein Maung were also appointed to the cabinet, whilst Chit Hlaing became

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

. The government also gained support from the commercial MPs, many of the Poor Man's Party's more radical campaign promises were dropped.Cady, p385

References

{{Burmese elections

Elections in Myanmar 1936 in Burma Election and referendum articles with incomplete results November 1936 in Asia