Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to face unmanned dissolution by the service- appointed election commission in late evening on Tuesday as it put down the registration process for the planned general election which ended as a sham.
In a nation ruled by the military, where the media has been shut down and the majority of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy leaders have been arrested, critics claim that the elections will not be free or fair.
“We absolutely do not accept that an election will be held at a time when many political leaders and political activists have been arrested and the people are being tortured by the military,” averred Bo Bo Oo, an erstwhile party lawmaker.
Suu Kyi, 77, is serving a sentence of 33 years after facing politically hued prosecutions carried out by the military. Her supporters claim that these charges meant to keep her out of contesting and being in politics.
“Amid the state oppression following the 2021 coup, no election can be credible, especially when much of the population sees a vote as a cynical attempt to supplant the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in 2020,” quoted a report published on Tuesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank.
“The polls will almost certainly intensify the post-coup conflict, as the regime seeks to force them through and resistance groups seek to disrupt them.”
Following the passage of the new law, existing political parties were required to reapply for registration with the election commission by March 28. Those who failed to do so would have their applications “automatically invalidated” and be deemed dissolved. It further states that if a party dissolves on its own accord or has its registration revoked by the law, it must entrust the government with its property.
Days after it was revealed, the National League for Democracy denounced the bill and declared the military-planned elections to be invalid and a “sham election.” It said that anyone or anything assisting the military in the elections would be considered an accomplice to high treason.
Bo Bo Oo said that a March 21 meeting of the party’s Central Working Committee reaffirmed the decision not to register, and considers the election commission and registration law illegitimate.
The state-run Myanma Alinn daily newspaper reported on Saturday that a total of 52 political parties had applied to the election commission for registration under the new law. Twelve applied to contest at the national level and 40 at the level of regions and states. The commission must approve their applications.
