Myanmar appeals court rejects opposition's claim to legitimacy

Fri, 28 Jan 2011

Yangon - A special appeals court on Friday rejected a case submitted by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to restore the legal status of her party.

"The court in Naypyitaw rejected our appeal," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Naypyitaw is Myanmar's new capital. A Yangon court on November 22 had turned down Suu Kyi's attempt to restore the NLD's status as a legal political party.

The NLD lost its status in May after refusing to register for the November 7 general election, the first in more than 20 years.

The party boycotted the election to protest a law that would have required it to drop Suu Kyi, at the time under house arrest, as a member in order to get on the ballot.

The NLD had won the previous national election in 1990 by a landslide but was blocked from assuming power by the military.

New registration rules for the polls barred any party with members serving custodial sentences. Suu Kyi was under house detention until November 13.

Many Western critics consider the November 7 polls to be a sham used by the junta to legitimize its hold on power.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party, a junta proxy, won 77 per cent of the contested seats in the three chambers of parliament.

The party has been accused of tampering with advance ballots, and bribing or intimidating voters.

News of the election was overshadowed by the release of the 65-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, who has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

Elected members of parliament, along with 388 appointed legislators by the military, are scheduled to convene for their first post election session on Monday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/364690,rejects-oppositions-claim-legitimacy.html.