Thread: Aung San Suu Kyi barred from Myanmar elections

Aung San Suu Kyi barred from Myanmar elections
Posted: 19 February 2008 2254 hrs


Aung San Suu Kyi

SINGAPORE : Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from running for election under the country's new constitution because she had a foreign husband, Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his fellow Southeast Asian ministers on Tuesday.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said Nyan Win was clear on this position during a dinner cruise off the city-state's waters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers.

"We did discuss that," Yeo told reporters in response to a question on whether Aung San Suu Kyi would be allowed to run in the 2010 vote planned by Myanmar's military rulers.

"He (Nyan Win) was quite clear that in the new constitution, a Myanmar citizen who has a foreign husband, who has children not citizens of Myanmar would be disqualified as was of the 1974 constitution." - AFP/de

channelnewsasia.com


and in related news .........

Myanmar completes work on draft constitution
Feb 19, 2008

YANGON - MILITARY-RULED Myanmar has completed drafting its proposed constitution, which the junta plans to bring before voters in a referendum in May, state media announced late Tuesday.

The junta on Feb 9 unveiled its surprise plans for the referendum, which it says will set the stage for democratic elections in 2010, but critics charge the entire process will serve only to entrench military rule.

Aung Toe, the chief justice of Myanmar's Supreme Court, announced in a statement read over state television that a special commission had completed the drafting of the charter.

'All members signed the draft of the constitution,' said Aung Toe, who headed the drafting commission.

He indicated that the commission had not made many changes to the guidelines produced by the military's National Convention, a body of 1,000 hand-picked delegates who spent 14 years in fitful meetings laying out principles for the charter.

It was impossible to tell what, if any changes, had been made to the National Convention's guidelines which imposed stiff limits on the activities of political parties and effectively barred detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president.

Myanmar has had no constitution since 1988, when the current junta seized power by suppressing a pro-democracy uprising in a violent campaign believed to have left 3,000 dead.

The opposition National League for Democracy warned on Monday that in order to achieve democracy, Myanmar?s rulers must first respect the results of 1990 elections, won by Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta ignored her landslide victory, and instead has kept her under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years. -- AFP

straitstimes.com

such obvious pretense. pity their is no god to fuck them over. the evil fucking bastards.

Complete and utter bollocks. She should be allowed to run no matter if she has a foreign husband or not. Bastards!

Well you live in Thailand, and it hasn't been that long ago that a Thai woman married to a farang could not own property,,So

Well, that pretty much makes a joke out of this new election!

Myanmar junta rules out Aung San Suu Kyi participation in polls
Mar 8, 2008


Yangon - Myanmar's ruling junta informed visiting United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari that they will not amend a draft constitution to allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to contest the planned 2010 polls, media reports said Saturday.

The military regime on Friday turned down a request by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon that the regime amend the new constitution to 'ensure inclusiveness,' Information Minister Brigadier-General Kyaw Hsan told Gambari in a long lecture to the visiting envoy that was printed in all state-controlled media Saturday.

'The Constitution has already been drafted and it should not be amended again,' Kyaw Hsan said.

In a letter dated February 19 to Myanmar's military supremo Senior General Than Shwe, the UN secretary general called for an amendment to the current draft constitution that would drop a clause excluding all Myanmar nationals married to foreigners from running for election.

snip

Kyaw Hsan faulted the UN for being biased against the regime, which only last September cracked down on anti-military protests led by Buddhist monks, leaving at least 31 people led.

The information minister noted that the world community has not objected to Thailand's new constitution, passed last year, despite the lack of participation by Thai opposition parties in the drafting process, nor the recent constitutions passed in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the lack of participation by their opponents, including Moslem militants with al-Qaeda links and the Taliban, respectively.

'We haven't heard any objection to these events by those persons and organizations who are objecting to us,' said Kyaw Hsan. 'It is not fair. The United Nations should stand fair and square without bias.

He also criticized Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years, for turning down the regime's request that she openly oppose western sanctions on Myanmar as a precondition for holding talks with her.

'Although we have opened the door for 'win-win' situation, NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are refusing to join hands,' Kyaw Hsan said.

He urged the visiting envoy to support the junta's 'seven step' road map and stop pursuing alternatives suggested by western democracies.

'We shall not accept any attempt to hinder or reverse the process of the seven-step Road Map. However, we will heartily welcome the positive suggestions of the UN to help implement the seven-step Road Map,' Kyaw Hsan concluded.

Gambari reportedly promised to onpass the minister's 'clarification' to the UN the Secretary-General.

snip

monstersandcritics.com

FAIR ?? , WTF does the junta know about Fair ???

.

A lot can happen in 2 years.
Hope the poppy harvest fails!

Referendum to be held on 10 May
Reporting by Siân Thomas

Apr 10, 2008 (DVB)–The Burmese government’s Commission for Holding Referendum has announced that the national referendum on the draft constitution will be held on 10 May, state media reported today.

The Commission passed a resolution confirming the referendum date at a meeting chaired by chief justice U Aung Toe in Naypyidaw yesterday.

The draft constitution was completed on 19 February, but was not made available to the public until yesterday.

Burmese opposition groups, foreign governments and international organisations have denounced the planned referendum and criticised the constitution drafting process for not allowing the participation of all groups.

The terms of the constitution, which reserve 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military and would exclude detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from running for office due to her marriage to a foreigner, have also met with widespread condemnation.

Pro-democracy activists have generally called on the Burmese people to vote against the constitution, with some advocating sabotage or a boycott of the referendum, while the government has been widely campaigning for a “Yes” vote.

english.dvb.no