View source for 1932 Burmese general election

{{Short description|none}}
{{Infobox election
| country = Burma
| type = parliamentary
| flag_year = 1937
| previous_election = 1928 Burmese general election
| previous_year = 1928
| next_election = 1936 Burmese general election
| next_year = 1936
| seats_for_election = 80 seats in the [[Legislative Council of Burma|Legislative Council]]
| majority_seats= 45
| election_date = 9 November 1932
| image1 = Ba Maw 1943.png
| leader1 = [[Ba Maw]]
| alliance1 = [[Anti-Separation League]]
| seats1 = 39
| image2 = 3x4.svg
| leader2 = [[U Ba Pe]]
| alliance2 = [[Separation League]]
| seats2 = 29

| title = [[Governor-General of India|Viceroy]]
| posttitle = [[Prime Minister of Burma|Chief Minister]]
| before_election = [[Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow|The Marquess of Linlithgow]]
| before_party =
| after_election = [[Ba Maw]]
| after_party = [[Anti-Separation League]]
}}{{Politics of Burma}}

General elections were held in [[Burma]] on 9 November 1932,<ref name=T3>"Separation Issue In Burma To-Day's Election": ''The Times'', 9 November 1932, p11, Issue 46286</ref> having originally been planned for 29 October.<ref>"Burmese Election In October: Separation Finance", ''The Times'', 9 August 1932, p9, Issue 46207</ref> The election was held almost solely on the issue of whether Burma should separate from [[British Raj|India]],<ref name=T2>"Separation Issue In Burma Buddhist Monk's Appeal", ''The Times'', 10 September 1932, p9, Issue 46235</ref> as the British government had indicated that it would take the outcome of the elections as an indication of Burmese opinion.<ref name=PP>Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, p148</ref> 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,<ref name=T2/><ref name=T3/> 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.<ref name=T4/> 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.<ref name=TT>"The New Constitution: Separation from India", ''The Times'', 20 April 1937, p36, Issue 47663</ref>

==Campaign==
A total of 207 candidates contested the elections;<ref name=T3/> the [[People's Party (Burma)|People's Party]] headed by [[U Ba Pe]], part of the Separation League, put forward 54, whilst the [[Independent Party (Burma)|Independent Party]] of [[Joseph Augustus Maung Gyi]] had 49.<ref name=T3/> Within the Anti-Separation League, the [[Maw-Myint-Bye Party]] of [[Ba Maw]] and the party led by [[Chit Hlaing]] participated in the elections.<ref name=T5>"Burmese Election Anti-Separationists Decline Office", ''The Times'', 18 November 1932, p13, Issue 46294</ref><ref>"Deadlock In Burma Office Declined By Parties", ''The Times'', 19 November 1932, p9; Issue 46295</ref>

The Anti-Separation League was well-funded by Indian commercial interests concerned about potential separation, and was backed by [[Buddhist monk]]s,<ref>Fukui, pp113–114</ref> who the Separation League sought to ban from politics.<ref name=PP/> By contrast, the Separation League was poorly funded and had little widespread support.<ref name=PP/>

==Results==
Within the Anti-Separation League the [[Mawmyintbye Party|Maw-Myint-Bye Party]] won the most seats, whilst the People's Party emerged as the largest within the Separation League.<ref name=T5/> ''[[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".<ref name=T4>"Burma Election: An Anti-Separation Majority", ''The Times'', 16 November 1932, p14, Issue 46292</ref>

{{Election results
|party1=[[Anti-Separation League]]|Ivotes1=415000|seats1=42
|party2=[[Separation League]]|Ivotes2=250000|seats2=29
|party3=Neutrals|votes3=|seats3=9
|source=Haruhiro Fukui<ref>Fukui, pp106–154</ref>
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Burmese elections}}

[[Category:1932 elections in Asia|Burma]]
[[Category:1932 in Burma|General]]
[[Category:Elections in Myanmar]]
[[Category:Provincial Assembly elections in British India|Burmese]]
[[Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results]]