The Arakan Front Party (;

abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

AFP) is a political party in

Myanmar 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 has ...

seeking Arakanese

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

and holding hardline

ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific ...

, anti-

Rohingya The Rohingya people (; ; ) are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who predominantly follow Islam from Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Ro ...

and anti-Islam stances. It was founded on 11 October 2018 by Dr.

Aye Maung Aye Maung ( ) is a Burmese politician and was the chairperson of the Arakan National Party, one of Myanmar's ethnic political parties. He is currently the leader of the Arakan Front Party. He is a staunch nationalist known for his hardline stanc ...

, former chairman of the

Arakan National Party The Arakan National Party (; abbreviated ANP), is a political party in Myanmar (Burma), representing the interests of the Rakhine people in Rakhine State and Yangon Region. The party was founded on 13 January 2014 and registered with the Unio ...

, and his colleagues, including his son Tin Maung Win.

History

The AFP announced on 29 March 2020 that the party had elected a new leadership consisting of

as chairperson, Kyaw Zaw Oo as Vice Chairperson, and Soe Win, Tin Maung Win, Tun Thein and Than Naing as secretaries. However, some members could not take their new leadership roles because their former party, the

, refused to let them resign and join the AFP.

and Kyaw Zaw Oo are both known to be hardline nationalists. In the 2020 general election, the AFP fielded its candidates in 42 constituencies. After the

Union Election Commission The Union Election Commission (, abbreviated UEC) is the national level electoral commission of Myanmar (Burma), responsible for organising and overseeing elections in Burma, as well as vetting parliamentary candidates and political parties. ...

cancelled the election in most of Rakhine State, the AFP's number of candidates was consequently reduced to three contesting in the

House of Nationalities The Amyotha Hluttaw (, ; House of Nationalities) is the ''de jure'' upper house of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the bicameral legislature of Myanmar (Burma). It consists of 224 members, of which 168 are directly elected and 56 appointed by the My ...

, five in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and ten in the

Rakhine State Hluttaw Rakhine State Hluttaw () is the legislature of the Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is a unicameral body, consisting of 47 members, including 35 elected members and 12 military representatives. As of February 2016, the Hluttaw was led by speaker San ...

. Out of these 18 contested seats, the AFP won one seat in the House of Representatives and two seats in the Rakhine State Hluttaw. The AFP declined an offer by the

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

, which overthrew the elected government of Myanmar in a military coup on 1 February 2021, to accept a cabinet minister position in the

State Administration Council The State Administration Council (; abbreviated SAC or နစက) is the military junta currently governing Myanmar, established by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, February 2021 c ...

. In late 2022,

Arakan Army The Arakan Army (; Abbreviation, abbreviated AA), sometimes referred to as the Arakha Army is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnic-List of insurgent groups in Myanmar, armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded in April 2009, the Ara ...

, the Arakanese ethnic armed group battling the junta detained two high leaders of AFP, Kyaw Zaw Oo and Kyaw Lwin. They are currently still in detainment and the Arakan Army stated that they are interned in one of their military regions in Rakhine state and refused to disclose the reason of their detainment. In 2023, Aye Maung stated that AFP would take part in the regime’s planned potential elections and went to register in junta’s electoral commission. Later on, Aye Maung also met two members of the Japanese parliament and lobbied for the junta in Japan. The leader of the junta,

Min Aung Hlaing Min Aung Hlaing (born 3 July 1956) is a Burmese army general who has ruled Myanmar as the chairman of the State Administration Council, chairman of the State Administration Council (SAC) since seizing power in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Fe ...

awarded Aye Maung the Wunna Kyawhtin title, a high order of merit award in January 2023.

References

External links

Arakan Front blog
{{Myanmar political parties 2018 establishments in Myanmar Political parties established in 2018 Political parties in Myanmar

Far-right politics in Myanmar Right-wing politics in Myanmar Political parties of minorities in Myanmar