"The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) said it is ending its long-standing practice of favouring retired military generals as MP candidates and opening the selection process up to more local input. In previous elections, the military-aligned party’s central executive committee would generally choose recently retired generals to run as MPs. The party is now handing some of that decision making power to township officials, USDP spokesperson Nandar Hla Myint told Myanmar Now last week. “The party’s top leaders will not direct any general or colonel to run in any constituency,” he said. “If they want to represent the USDP, they will have to win over their local constituency." Nandar Hla Myint said USDP constituencies in each township will make a list of candidates then send it to the central executive committee to select from. It is unclear how many potential candidates township constituencies can put on that list. The new policy mimics changes the incumbent National League for Democracy (NLD) recently made to its candidate selection process. The USDP was founded as a political party in June 2010, five months before that year’s elections - the first in the country’s ongoing transition from military dictatorship toward civilian democracy. The party was largely a rebranding of the Union Solidarity and Development Association - the junta government’s propaganda wing..."