The National United Front ( my, အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေး တပ်ပေါင်းစု) was a

political alliance A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

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 ...

History

The alliance was formed in 1955 as a successor to the People's Democratic Front,Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, p145 ahead of the April 1956 general elections. The NUF consisted of

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

parties such as the

Burma Workers Party The Burma Workers Party, until 1958 the Burma Workers and Peasants Party, was a communist party in Burma, formed on 8 December 1950 by leftist elements of the Socialist Party. In December 1962 it merged with the People's Comrade Party to form t ...

, the People's Unity Party led by

Thein Pe Myint Thein Pe Myint ( my, သိန်းဖေမြင့် ; also ''Thakin'' Thein Pe ( ); 10 July 1914 – 15 January 1978) was a Burmese politician, writer and journalist. A writer of several politically and socially prominent books and the foun ...

and the

People's Peace Front The People's Peace Front ( my, ပြည်သူ့ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး အဖွဲ့ပေါင်းစု) was a political party in Burma. History The party was established by former Anti-Fascist People's Freedom Leag ...

, as well as

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

parties including the Justice Party led by

Aye Maung Aye Maung ( my, အေးမောင် ) 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 ...

, the New Mon National Party. In the elections the alliance received 30.4% of the vote, winning 47 seats.Rose, Saul (1959). ''Socialism in Southern Asia''. p. 132. London: Oxford University Press. Until 1958 it served as the major opposition bloc in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

, but when the ruling

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 t ...

split into two factions (the Clean AFPFL and the

Stable AFPFL The Stable Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (Stable AFPFL) was a political party in Burma. History The party was formed in June 1958 when the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) split in two following internal disputes that had inte ...

) the NUF supported the Clean AFPFL faction led by

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 ...

in forming a government, although Nu only allowed

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

NUF members to become cabinet ministers.Fukui, p142 By the 1960 elections most of the conservative factions of the alliance had left to affiliate with the Clean AFPFL. Although the alliance put forward 135 candidates, it was reduced to just three seats, possibly due to its opposition to the establishment of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

as the

state religion A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular state, secular, is not n ...

. Following the 1962 coup, the NUF leadership joined the

Burma Socialist Programme Party The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), ; abbreviated , was Burma's ruling party from 1962 to 1988 and sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman Ne Win overthrew the country's democratically elected government in a coup d'éta ...

References

Defunct political party alliances in Myanmar Political parties established in 1955 1955 establishments in Burma Political parties disestablished in 1962 1962 disestablishments in Burma {{Myanmar-party-stub