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Burmese Opposition Leader Urges Party to Boycott Elections


Aung San Suu Kyi ( (File)
Aung San Suu Kyi ( (File)

Detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says the decision by some members of her former political party to form a new party and participate in upcoming elections is undemocratic.

Her lawyer, Nyan Win, also told VOA that Aung San Suu Kyi has warned members of the former National League for Democracy to avoid holding political talks at party headquarters in Rangoon.

In March, the National League for Democracy decided to not participate in elections planned for later this year. Aung San Suu Kyi had urged her party not to participate, saying election laws are unjust.

The National League for Democracy was forced to dissolve after it refused to dismiss Aung San Suu Kyi. Burmese election laws prohibit registered parties from having criminals in their ranks.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under some form of detention for 14 of the last 20 years, and many party officials have been held as political prisoners.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was convicted last August of violating terms of her house arrest. She was found guilty of giving shelter to an American man who swam to her lakeside Rangoon house uninvited.

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