At stake in this election:

• 6 seats in the House of Nationalities (Amyotha Hluttaw)
• 40 seats in the House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw) In addition, two seats will be contested in regional assemblies.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President THEIN SEIN
• Head of Government: President THEIN SEIN
• Assembly: Myanmar has a bicameral People's Assembly (Pyithu Hluttaw) consisting of the House of Nationalities (Amyotha Hluttaw) with 224 seats and the House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw) with 440 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is indirectly elected by parliament.
• In the House of Nationalities (Amyotha Hluttaw), 168 members are elected by absolute majority vote in single-member constituencies and 56 members are reserved by the military. In the House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw), 330 members are elected by absolute majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms and 110 members are appointed by the military to serve 4-year terms.**

** Elections as a whole are deemed valid only if 51% of the voters on the electoral roll turn out at the polls.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP)*
  • Leader: THEIN SEIN
  • Seats won in last House of Nationalities election: 129
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 219
• Party: National League for Democracy (NLD)**
  • Leader: Aung San SUU KYI
  • Seats won in last House of Nationalities election: 1
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 0
• Party: National Unity Party (NUP)***
  • Leader: TUN YI
  • Seats won in last House of Nationalities election: 5
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 12
• Party: The National Democratic Force****
  • Leader: THAN NYEIN
  • Seats won in last House of Nationalities election: 2
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 0
• Party: Others*****
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in last House of Nationalities election: N/A
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: N/A

* The Union Solidarity and Development Party will contest all seats.
** The National League for Democracy will contest all seats.
*** The National Unity Party will contest around 20 seats.
**** The National Democratic Force will contest around 20 seats.
***** A total of 17 political parties, including six newly registered parties, will participate. Most of these parties will contest only a handful of seats.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 52,543,841 (2012)
• Registered Voters: 29,021,608 (November 2010 Figure includes entire country, not specifically the districts contested in this election.)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 26,888,901 (2012)

·         Is Myanmar a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Myanmar ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (22 July 1997)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 14 (following the 2010 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 148 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: High (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Myanmar a signatory to CRPD: No

·         Has Myanmar ratified CRPD: Yes, accession (7 December 2011)

·         Population with a disability: 7,881,576 (est.)