National League for Democracy

The National League for Democracy (, ; abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a deregistered liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (Burma). It became the country's ruling party after a landslide victory in the 2015 general election but was overthrown in a military coup d'état in early 2021 following another landslide election victory in 2020. Founded on 27 September 1988, it has become one of the most influential parties in Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Aung San Suu Kyi, the former State Counsellor of Myanmar, serves as its leader. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Myanmar general election. However, the ruling military junta refused to recognise the result. On 6 May 2010, the party was declared illegal and ordered to be disbanded by the junta after refusing to register for the elections slated for November 2010. In November 2011, the NLD announced its intention to register as a political party to contend future elections, and Myanmar's Union Election Commission approved their application for registration on 13 December 2011. In the 2012 by-elections, the NLD contested 44 of the 45 available seats, winning 43, with its only loss being in one seat to the SNDP. Party leader Aung San Suu Kyi won the seat of Kawhmu. In the 2015 general election, the NLD won a supermajority in both houses of the Assembly, paving the way for the country's first non-military president in 54 years. The NLD is an observer party of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats. On 21 May 2021, the junta-controlled Union Election Commission (UEC) announced plans to permanently dissolve the NLD, though the junta later temporarily reversed this decision. In January 2023, the junta enacted a new electoral law designed to favor the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the military's electoral proxy, leading the NLD to announce that it would not re-register as a political party. On 28 March 2023, the UEC dissolved the NLD for failing to register, a decision which the NLD rejected as illegitimate.