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NLD says 'no' to election
Irrawaddy - March 29, 2010
Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), decided against registering for the general election this year, after party leaders met in Rangoon to discuss the issue.
On Monday, nearly 160 party representatives from across the country gathered at the party's Rangoon headquarters and 114 representatives voted in a ballot on whether to register the party or not.
Several party sources confirmed that the majority is against the party registering under the current conditions.
Party sources said that 92-year-old party chairman Aung Shwe, who recently voiced support for the party registering and taking part in the election, did not join in the meeting and instead sent a letter stating that he would abide by the majority decision.
"With unity, we all follow our party leader Aung San Suu Kyi's line against party registration," said a NLD representative, Ohn Kyaing.
The meeting came six days after the NLD's detained leader Suu Kyi said she was against her party registering under the current "unjust" election law, which prohibits parties from having members who are currently in detention, so a decision to register would force Suu Kyi out of the party.
Although security is heightened with four riot police trucks deployed near the party headquarters, there has been no report of harassment of the NLD leaders by the authorities.
Before the discussion, several party township representatives and party youth leaders declared that they would stand by Suu Kyi's line against registration.
If the NLD fails to register within 60 days of March 8 when the junta's election law was announced, it will cease to exist as a legal entity, according to that law.
Meanwhile, junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe described the election as "the beginning of the process of fostering democracy" in his speech at Armed Forces Day on Saturday.
The NLD won a landslide victory in Burma's last election in 1990, but the results were never honored by the regime. Party leader Suu Kyi is currently serving an 18-month term of house arrest. With her sentence due to expire in November, Suu Kyi cannot be a member of any political party if she is not released before the May 7 deadline for party registration.
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