| 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 |
| Majority Seats: | 45 |
| Election Date: | 9 November 1932 |
| Image1: | Ba Maw 1943.png |
| Leader1: | Ba Maw |
| Alliance1: | Anti-Separation League |
| Seats1: | 39 |
| Leader2: | U Ba Pe |
| Alliance2: | Separation League |
| Seats2: | 29 |
| Viceroy | |
| Posttitle: | Chief Minister |
| Before Election: | The Marquess of Linlithgow |
| After Election: | Ba Maw |
| After Party: | Anti-Separation League |
General elections were held in Burma on 9 November 1932,[1] having originally been planned for 29 October.[2] The election was held almost solely on the issue of whether Burma should separate from India,[3] as the British government had indicated that it would take the outcome of the elections as an indication of Burmese opinion.[4] 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,[3] [1] 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. 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.[5]
A total of 207 candidates contested the elections;[1] The People's Party headed by U Ba Pe, part of the Separation League, put forward 54, whilst the Independent Party of Joseph Augustus Maung Gyi had 49.[1] Within the Anti-Separation League, the Maw-Myint-Bye Party of Ba Maw and the party led by Chit Hlaing participated in the elections.[6] [7]
The Anti-Separation League was well-funded by Indian commercial interests concerned about potential separation, and was backed by Buddhist monks,[8] who the Separation League sought to ban from politics.[4] By contrast, the Separation League was poorly-funded and had little widespread support.[4]
Within the Anti-Separation League the Maw-Myint-Bye Party won the most seats, whilst the People's Party emerged as the largest within the Separation League.[6] 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".[9]