YANGON — A 53-year old National League for Democracy candidate collapsed on stage while delivering a campaign speech and died later in hospital, party officials said. He was the first known casualty of the 2015 election scheduled on November 8.
U Soe Myint, a National League for Democracy opposition party candidate in the Myinmu (1) constituency in Sagaing Region, complained that he felt exhausted after giving a speech at a rally, and was taken to a nearby hospital where he died, said U Kyi Toe, NLD Press Office manager.
The cause of death was not immediately known, U Kyi Toe said. U Soe Myint’s death means that the NLD will automatically lose the chance to win the Myinmu seat in the Sagaing regional Parliament.
Myanmar’s parliamentary system on the Union level is bicameral, and is compried of the Lower House, with 440 seats and an Upper House with 224 seats. Each state and region has its own, unicameral parliament; there are total of 673 seats in these houses across the country.
The election to date has been marred by only a few cases of violence, the most spectacular of which was a sword attack on Naing Ngan Lin, the a Thaketa Township NLD candidate for a seat in Yangon’s Regional Parliament.
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Naing Ngan Lin had recovered sufficiently to hit the campaign trail again on Wednesday. Friday is the last day of political campaigning before 33.5 million people are eligible to cast their votes on November 8. The last general election held in 2010 was boycotted by the NLD.
