General elections were held in Burma on 6 February 1960 to install a government to take over from General Ne Win's interim administration, established in October 1958. The military-led administration was credited for bringing stability and improving infrastructure in the country, though it suppressed some civil liberties.^[1]

Quick Facts All 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 126 seats needed for a majority, First party ...

1960 Burmese general election

← 1956 6 February 1960 1974 →
All 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 126 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader U Nu Kyaw Nyein & Ba Swe (pictured) Party Clean AFPFL Stable AFPFL NUF Seats won 158 41 3 Seat change New New 45
Prime Minister before election Ne Win Military Prime Minister-elect U Nu AFPFL

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The elections were seen as not so much a contest between the Clean AFPFL of U Nu against the Stable AFPFL of Kyaw Nyein and Ba Swe, but a referendum on the policies of the interim military government between 1958 and 1960.^[2] The result was a victory for the Clean AFPFL, which won 157 of the 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

The elections set a precedent to other Middle Eastern and South Asian leaders, where the military voluntarily handed over to a civilian government and held free elections.^[3] However, only two years after his election victory, U Nu was overthrown in a coup d'état led by General Ne Win on 2 March 1962.

The Clean AFPFL, led by U Nu, and Stable AFPFL, led by U Kyaw Nyein and U Ba Swe, had been formed after a split in the main AFPFL party in June 1958. Until the military took over in October 1958, U Nu relied on the communists to retain a majority in parliament.^[4]

Despite the formation of the two parties, there were no major ideological differences between them and their policies were similar, especially with regards to non-alignment, although the Stable faction favoured industrialisation and the Clean faction spoke more of agricultural development.^[5] The Stable faction had given the impression it was favoured by the army, but, after realising the army was not as favoured as first thought, distanced itself.^[5] It had also argued it represented stability.^[6] Meanwhile, the "Clean" faction warned against the "dangers of fascist dictatorship",^[7] and criticised the current leaders for their "drinking and womanising".^[8] The communist NUF was severely repressed by the caretaker military government and was therefore outside the two main parties.^[9]

The Clean AFPFL chose yellow to campaign, as it was the colour worn by monks, while the Stable AFPFL chose red and the National United Front chose blue.^[7]

An estimated 10,000,000 Burmese were eligible to vote.^[10] The military largely stayed away on voting day, although it was present at some ballot boxes. Boxes for the "Clean" faction featured pictures of U Nu which the "Stable" faction and other smaller parties alleged confused the voter into thinking they were voting for Nu personally.^[9] Polls closed at 6 pm and a crowd estimated at 20,000 gathered at the Sule Pagoda in the capital Rangoon to hear results as they were posted.^[5] The "Clean" faction took all 9 seats in the capital including one they were prepared to concede, while the "Stable" faction had some strength in the countryside.^[11]

Media coverage of the event was restricted to print media only and vigorously covered, but was largely ignored by the state-run Burma Broadcasting Service which had not aired opposition coverage since before the AFPFL split.^[9]

Voter turnout was the highest in a Burmese election.^[12] U Nu, remarking on his victory, said "I guess people like us".^[7]