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Myanmar polls date meaningless without Suu Kyi
Monday, February 11, 2008
BANGKOK: Myanmar's unexpected announcement of a timetable for elections in
2010 could prove meaningless with Aung San Suu Kyi and other top democracy
leaders locked away, analysts said on Sunday.
The military announced late on Saturday that it would hold a
constitutional
referendum in May to set the stage for elections in 2010, in a move that
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) called
"surprising."
If held, the polls would be the first since 1990, when the NLD won a
landslide victory - even though Aung San Suu Kyi was already under house
arrest. She has been confined to her home in Yangon for 12 of the last 18
years.
Analysts said the regime's announcement raised more questions than
answers,
especially about what role pro-democracy forces would be allowed to play
in
elections in a country ruled by the military since 1962.
Sean Turnell, an expert on Myanmar at Australia's Macquarie University in
Sydney, said he was sceptical about the elections because so many
pro-democracy activists have been arrested. "The opposition movement is
the
weakest at the moment because so many of them are all locked up," Turnell
said.
The Amnesty International estimates the regime holds at least 1,850
political prisoners, including about 700 arrested during the junta's
deadly
crackdown on anti-government protests in September 2007.
The protests led by Buddhist monks were the biggest challenge to military
rule in nearly 20 years. At least 31 people were killed and 74 went
missing
when security forces violent broke up the crowds, according to the United
Nations.
Apart from Aung San Suu Kyi and senior NLD members, the junta has also
arrested top student leaders who rallied against the junta in 1988 in a
far
larger uprising that resulted in more than 3,000 deaths.
Many leaders of that uprising had been released over the last four years
and
had returned to political activism, only be thrown back into prison. "With
Aung San Suu Kyi and so many democracy leaders under detention, it will be
very difficult for opposition groups to organise for elections," said Aung
Naig Oo, a Thailand-based Myanmar analyst.
Turnell said the junta should release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political
prisoners to "make elections meaningful." "Unless they are released, it
will
be totally unmeaningful," the academic said. Trevor Wilson, a former
Australian ambassador to Myanmar, agreed. "They cannot have elections
while
so many people are in prison for carrying out peaceful political
activities," Wilson said. "They need to free political prisoners. We have
to insist they do."
Even if Aung San Suu Kyi were released, the constitution the junta
proposes
to bring to voters in May would bar her from running for president.
Win Min, a Thailand-based Myanmar academic, said the absence of Myanmar's
most prominent opposition leader would undermine the legitimacy of any
polls.
"She is a true hero of people, and excluding Aung San Suu Kyi undermines
the
elections," Win Min said.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=95737
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