General elections were held in
Burma on 9 April 1947 to form the basis of a
constituent assembly that would design a constitution once independence from the
United Kingdom had been achieved.
They were the first elections in Burma since its separation from
India under the
British Raj.
Voter turnout was 49.8%. However,
Aung San was assassinated three months later, resulting in
U Nu becoming the first
Prime Minister of Burma
The prime minister of Myanmar is the head of government of Myanmar. The post was re-established in 2021 by the State Administration Council, the country's ruling military junta, to lead its nominally-civilian provisional government. The provis ...
.
Background
The elections were among a number of provisions agreed on 27 January 1947 between Burmese nationalist
Aung San on a visit to
London and British
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
guaranteeing Burma's independence from the UK within a year.
Campaign
In 56 non-communal constituencies, candidates from the
Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) ran unopposed.
U Saw
U Saw, also known as Galon U Saw ( my-Mymr, ဦးစော or my-Mymr, ဂဠုန်ဦးစော, lit. Garuda U Saw, ; 16 March 1900 – 8 May 1948), was a leading Burmese politician who served as Prime Minister of British Burma dur ...
, leader of the
Patriot's Party
The Patriot's Party ( my, မျိုးချစ်ပါတီ; also known as the Myochit) was a nationalist political party in Burma led by U Saw.
History
The party was formed in 1938 by U Saw after he left the United GCBA, and initially cons ...
, accused the AFPFL of intimidation and corruption during the election campaign and boycotted the election, as did Ba Sein and his party, accusing the AFPFL of being a "stooges" of British imperialism.
Reasons given for the low turnout included the instability left by the
Japanese occupation of Burma
The Japanese occupation of Burma was the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was occupied by the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma Independence Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, who ...
and the struggle for independence.
[ Other candidates in the election included a few independents and communists. The election was certified as free and fair.][
]
Results
Turnout was generally low, around 50% in contested constituencies.[
]
Aftermath
On 19 July 1947, Aung San was assassinated along with six other members of the party and the leadership of the AFPFL was taken over by U Nu.[
]
See also
*British rule in Burma
( Burmese)
, conventional_long_name = Colony of Burma
, common_name = Burma
, era = Colonial era
, event_start = First Anglo-Burmese War
, year_start = 1824
, date_start = ...
* Panglong Conference
References
{{Burmese elections
Elections in Myanmar
1947 in Burma
Burma
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results