The National League for Democracy (NLD) will cut more than half its anticipated candidates for the next election.

Monywa Aung Shin, a party spokesperson, told the Myanmar Times that many of the current candidates do not meet the party’s standards. “The current candidates have weaknesses. So, we have plans to replace them – not just half -maybe even beyond that,” Monywa Aung Shin said.

The final selection of candidates for township, state and regional, and national offices will be decided in 2020. “The party has decided on how many MPs will participate in the 2020 General Election. We will choose them based on their performance, relevant executive committee’s appraisal and the people’s support during five-year term,” another NLD official, Dr. Myo Nyunt, told Eleven Media Group.

After boycotting the first election of Myanmar’s new democratic era, the NLD returned for an easy victory in 2015, unseating many incumbents from the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. The party ran 1,152 candidates that year, the most of any party. However, the party failed to live up to the arguably impossible expectations of the Myanmar electorate. It was criticized for legislative inefficiency and faced a corruption scandal surrounding several officials in Tanintharyi Region. Needless to say, the NLD will have a tougher battle in the 2020, and it aims to fill the ballot with the best candidates possible, even if it means leaving a few hopefuls behind. But despite the shake-up, the party remains optimistic, recently announcing that it aims for another landslide victory.