Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Burma’s military junta has officially cancelled the results of the 1990 election but is allowing the country’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to reopen some of its offices. In the meantime, Burmese Catholics are praying for the upcoming elections and the country’s leaders on the urging of the archbishop of Yangon.
The new election law, made public in recent days in state-run newspapers, has laid down the guidelines for the electoral process. It bans anyone who has been convicted or is waiting sentence. The law is designed to keep pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running.
According to Article 91 of the new law, the 1989 electoral law issued by the then State Law and Order Restoration Council is repealed. The military never recognised the 1990 election results, which saw the NLD win by a landslide.
The 1990 vote is not valid, according to the new law, because it “does not conform to the constitution” adopted by the junta in 2008. In 1990, the NLD had won 392 seats out of 485 in a clear sign of rejection of the junta by the population. Party spokesperson Khin Maung Swe reiterated that the 1990 results represent the will of the people.
In the meantime, the junta appears ready to authorise the NLD to reopen its offices across the country. All NLD offices, except for the party’s headquarters in Rangoon, were ordered closed after the 2003 Depayin massacre, an attack by junta-backed groups on a motorcade of party leader Aung San Suu Kyi in which scores of people were killed and injured.
Nyan Win, a lawyer and spokesperson for the NLD, said the party’s central committee would meet and consult with party leader Suu Kyi to decide whether to take part in the 2010 elections, despite the unsatisfactory rules set by the junta.
According to party member Aung Thein, in “the 1990 Electoral Law there were no restrictions on prisoners being members of political parties,” whereas the 2010 electoral law states that “not only prisoners but also those who are appealing court sentences are barred from being members of political parties. I think this law specifically refers to Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now appealing against her sentence.” The “junta is trying in every way to continue their rule by giving up their military uniforms and putting on civilian” clothes.
Mgr Charles Bo, archbishop of Yangon, has also entered the fray. UCA News reports that he has “urged Catholics to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament for the upcoming elections and for the leaders of the country.” He is also quoted as saying that they “should pray from now until October” and that parishes should “conduct at least one 24-hour adoration program during this period.”
A local clergyman, Fr Augustine Than Aung, stressed that the country does “need justice and peace.”
