Burmese military leaders ban Suu Kyi from the elections by Zuzana Zelenakova

Burmese opposition politician Suu Kyi, daughter of General Aung San, was banned from the scheduled elections by a law issued by military junta leaders ruling the country. According to the law, anyone with a criminal conviction is banned from taking part in the elections. Back in 1990, National League for Democracy won the general elections in Burma and Suu Kyi was supposed to assume the office of the Prime Minister, however, the military junta refused to give up the power. Suu Kyi was put under house arrest. In past 20 years she has been under house arrest 14 times. In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize ”for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human r! ights”, but could not accept it in person due to imprisonment. Her sons accepted it on her behalf. National League for Democracy Party has only two options now, either they expel their leader in order to be allowed to participate in the elections or they simply do not take part in them. "I have noticed that we have to expel Daw Suu. Their attitude is clear in this law," said NLD spokesman Nyan Win. "I was extremely surprised when I saw this, I did not think it would be so bad." The ban that includes also Suu Kyi comes in the wake of calls from the US, European Union for credible results of the election. "We urge the authorities to begin a genuine political dialogue with all stakeholders as a first step towards credible elections," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. "We are concerned by the Burmese authorities' unilateral decision to begin releasing the election laws without first engaging in substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition or ethnic m! inority leaders." Most of the world remains skeptical about th! e credib ility and authenticity of the upcoming elections.

related story (sgx16715): http://www.france24.com/en/20100310-burma-new-election-law-b...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

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