Myanmar announces vote in 2010
Opposition says it is “surprised” the ruling generals have set a date for elections.
Myanmar timeline |
1988: Military crackdown on pro-democracy protests, estimated 3,000 killed
1989: Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to house arrest for allegedly endangering the state
1990: NLD wins landslide in national election; military refuses to recognise result
1991: Suu Kyi awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1995: Suu Kyi freed, but movements restricted
1997: Myanmar admitted to Asean
2000: Suu Kyi sentenced to house arrest for defying travel restrictions
2002: Suu Kyi released following UN-facilitated secret talks with government
2003: Government unveils “road map” to democracy; Suu Kyi returned to house arrest after her convoy is attacked in north of country
2005: Government announces shift to new capital Naypidaw
2007: Nearly 3,000 prisoners released in amnesty to mark independence anniversary, but no key political figures freed |
“We have to see the results of the referendum on the constitution. How can they know if it will be a success? It is still early to talk about an election.”
Possible exclusion
However, the new constitution may not allow Suu Kyi to take a government position as it may bar anyone married to a foreigner.
Suu Kyi’s husband, Michael Aris, a British academic, died in March 1999.
In Bangkok, Thailand, a spokesman for a group of exiled MPs who fled after that vote, said that the elections would be meaningless unless Suu Kyi was freed and took part.
“Without the participation of Suu Kyi, the NLD and ethnic parties the people will not accept this constitution,” Zin Linn of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, said.
Instead, the generals insisted on drafting a new constitution and convened a so-called National Convention in 1993, which spent the next 14 years in meetings laying out the guidelines for a new charter.
In the early stages, the NLD participated in the talks, but the party later boycotted the convention in protest at Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest, which is now entering its 12th year.
The convention finally ended on September 3, 2007, weeks after anti-government demonstrations began in Yangon, the former capital, in protest at a hike in fuel prices in mid-August.
By the end of September, the protests had turned into the largest anti-government demonstrations in nearly 20 years.
The military responded with a deadly crackdown in which security forces opened fire on crowds, killing at least 31 people, according to the UN.