Myanmar officials on Friday said detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be entitled to vote in the coming election, despite earlier statements that she would be barred from taking part.
Raising confusion over the Nobel Peace laureate's rights and the interpretation of the electoral laws, an official told AFP “Aung San Suu Kyi and her two live-in maids will get the right to vote”.
“But they will not get permission to go outside on election day.”
The official, who asked not to be named, suggested “The authorities might ask them to vote in advance.”
On Monday, officials had said Ms. Suu Kyi, who lives under house arrest in her lakeside mansion in Yangon, did not appear on the voting list because serving prisoners have no right to vote under Myanmar's 2008 constitution.
But another official on Thursday confirmed her right to vote in the first election in two decades, due on November 7, saying authorities “are likely to inform her soon”. He said she had the right to vote on the basis that she is under house arrest rather than in prison.
Ms. Suu Kyi was, however, earlier this year barred from standing as a candidate in the elections on the grounds that she is a serving prisoner.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party decided to boycott the polls, saying the rules were unfair.
