Suu Kyi barred from elections
Source: Agencies |
March 11, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MYANMAR'S democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi will be barred from running in upcoming elections and her own political party may be forced to expel her under a new election law unveiled yesterday.
The Political Parties Registration Law, published in official newspapers, prohibits anyone convicted by a court of law from joining a political party, making them ineligible to become a candidate.
It also instructs parties to expel members who are "not in conformity with the qualification to be members of a party," a clause that could force Suu Kyi's expulsion. Parties that don't register automatically cease to exist, the law says.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence. She was sentenced to a new term of house arrest that is to end this November.
Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed her latest appeal for freedom.
The new election law was immediately criticized by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
League Deputy Chairman Tin Oo called the law unfair, politically motivated and designed to restrict activities of the party, which has already been battered by arrests and harassment.
The government announced in 2008 that elections will take place sometime in 2010. The last elections in 1990 were won by Suu Kyi's party, but the military refused to hand over power.
The Political Parties Registration Law, published in official newspapers, prohibits anyone convicted by a court of law from joining a political party, making them ineligible to become a candidate.
It also instructs parties to expel members who are "not in conformity with the qualification to be members of a party," a clause that could force Suu Kyi's expulsion. Parties that don't register automatically cease to exist, the law says.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence. She was sentenced to a new term of house arrest that is to end this November.
Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed her latest appeal for freedom.
The new election law was immediately criticized by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
League Deputy Chairman Tin Oo called the law unfair, politically motivated and designed to restrict activities of the party, which has already been battered by arrests and harassment.
The government announced in 2008 that elections will take place sometime in 2010. The last elections in 1990 were won by Suu Kyi's party, but the military refused to hand over power.
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