Aung San Suu Kyi is against registering her opposition party for Myanmar’s upcoming elections because the ruling junta’s restrictions on the vote are “unjust,” her lawyer said on Tuesday.
Ms. Suu Kyi was quoted as saying she would “not even think” of registering her National League for Democracy for the polls, which the Government says will be held this year, but stressed she will let the party decide for itself.
“Personally, I would not even think of registering (the party) under these unjust laws,” Ms. Suu Kyi said, according to her lawyer Nyan Win who met with her today at her lakeside villa in Yangon.
The NLD won the last elections held in Myanmar in 1990 by a landslide but was barred by the military from taking power.
The credibility of the upcoming vote has already been called into question but it would suffer even more without the participation of the country’s principal opposition party.
Ms. Suu Kyi is under house arrest and is effectively barred from running and voting in elections under recent laws enacted by the military-ruled Government. One of the laws requires parties to register for the elections or cease to exist.
Her comments came ahead of a crucial meeting on Monday in which NLD senior members will decide whether the party registers for the vote.
Although Ms. Suu Kyi has been under detention for 14 of the last 20 years, she is still general-secretary of the party.
