The United Hill People's Congress ( my, တောင်တန်းသားများ စည်းလုံးညီညွတ်ရေး ဦးစီးအဖွဲ့; UHPC) was a political party in

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 party was originally established as the Shan State People's Freedom League in 1945, being the

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ( ...

branch of the

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 ...

(AFPFL).Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, pp148–149 Headed by U Htun Aye, the party was unpopular with

Saopha Chao-Pha (; Tai Ahom: 𑜋𑜧𑜨 𑜇𑜡, th, เจ้าฟ้า}, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၾႃႉ, translit=Jao3 Fa5 Jao3 Fa5, my, စော်ဘွား ''Sawbwa,'' ) was a royal title used by the hereditary rulers of the Tai peoples of ...

s. After they had accepted the inclusion of the Shan states in independent Burma, the Saophas joined the party, which was reorganised in 1947 to become the United Hill People's Congress, representing the traditional elite.Fukui, p153

Sao Shwe Thaik Sao Shwe Thaik ( shn, ၸဝ်ႈၶမ်းသိူၵ်ႈ, ''Tsaw³ Kham⁴soek³''; my, စဝ်ရွှေသိုက်, ; 16 October 1895 – 21 November 1962) was a Burmese politician who served as the first president of the U ...

, later Burma's first president, was the new party's president. It contested the 1951–52 general elections as an AFPFL ally. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p614 By the 1956 elections U Htun Aye had formed the Shan State Peasants' Organisation (SSPO), but the UHPC held 39 seats. It received 4.2% of the vote and was reduced to 14 seats, although it was the third largest party in the Chamber of Deputies; the SSPO won just two seats. The party's popularity began to decrease as Shans became disenchanted with the government's policy towards them. The UHPO moved away from the AFPFL, although it remained in a coalition government with the ruling party. It contested the 1960 elections as an ally of the Clean faction of the AFPFL, receiving 1.1% of the vote as it was reduced to six seats.

References

{{Burmese political parties Defunct political parties in Myanmar Political parties established in 1945 Political parties established in 1947 1945 establishments in Burma 1947 establishments in Burma