1932 Burmese general election
← 1928 9 November 1932 1936 →
80 seats in the Legislative Council
45 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Ba Maw U Ba Pe
Alliance Anti-Separation League Separation League
Seats won 39 29
Popular vote 415,000 250,000
Viceroy before election

The Marquess of Linlithgow

 Chief Minister

Ba Maw
Anti-Separation League

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General elections were held in Burma on 9 November 1932,[1] having originally been planned for 29 October.[2] The election was held almost solely on the issue of whether Burma should separate from India,[3] as the British government had indicated that it would take the outcome of the elections as an indication of Burmese opinion.[4] Prior to the elections many of the major parties joined either the Anti-Separation League or the Separation League.

Despite expectations that the separationists would win,[3][1] the Anti-Separation League won a majority of seats. However, the anti-separationists were not in favour of maintaining the union with India, but instead called for a better constitution for a separate Burma.[5] They rejected the constitution proposed by the Prime Minister following the Burma Round-Table Conference, but also rejected the permanent federation with India, and declared they would enter the Indian Federation, but with the right to withdraw.[6]

Campaign

A total of 207 candidates contested the elections;[1] The People's Party headed by U Ba Pe, part of the Separation League, put forward 54, whilst the Independent Party of Joseph Augustus Maung Gyi had 49.[1] Within the Anti-Separation League, the Maw-Myint-Bye Party of Ba Maw and the party led by Chit Hlaing participated in the elections.[7][8]

The Anti-Separation League was well-funded by Indian commercial interests concerned about potential separation, and was backed by Buddhist monks,[9] who the Separation League sought to ban from politics.[4] By contrast, the Separation League was poorly-funded and had little widespread support.[4]

Results

Within the Anti-Separation League the Maw-Myint-Bye Party won the most seats, whilst the People's Party emerged as the largest within the Separation League.[7] The Times noted that the surprise defeat of the separationists was caused by "wild stories" that the country would become a "white man's paradise and home to the British unemployed, that taxation would be heavily increased, even dogs and poultry would be taxed; and that the Buddhist religion would be ruined".[5]

PartySeats
Anti-Separation League42
Separation League29
Neutrals9
Total80
Source: Haruhiro Fukui[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Separation Issue In Burma To-Day's Election": The Times, 9 November 1932, p11, Issue 46286
  2. ^ "Burmese Election In October: Separation Finance", The Times, 9 August 1932, p9, Issue 46207
  3. ^ a b "Separation Issue In Burma Buddhist Monk's Appeal", The Times, 10 September 1932, p9, Issue 46235
  4. ^ a b c Haruhiro Fukui (1985) Political parties of Asia and the Pacific, Greenwood Press, p148
  5. ^ a b "Burma Election: An Anti-Separation Majority", The Times, 16 November 1932, p14, Issue 46292
  6. ^ "The New Constitution: Separation from India", The Times, 20 April 1937, p36, Issue 47663
  7. ^ a b "Burmese Election Anti-Separationists Decline Office", The Times, 18 November 1932, p13, Issue 46294
  8. ^ "Deadlock In Burma Office Declined By Parties", The Times, 19 November 1932, p9; Issue 46295
  9. ^ Fukui, pp113–114
  10. ^ Fukui, pp106–154
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