Myanmar rejects Suu Kyi party bid

Highest court upholds decision to dissolve pro-democracy leader’s party after it boycotted last year’s election.

aung san suu kyi
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Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi  was released from a seven-year long house arrest in November last year [AFP]

Myanmar’s highest court has rejected a move by Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader, to overturn a ruling that dissolved her political party.

The Special Appellant Court in Naypyitaw, the countr’s capital, said that her party would remain an “unlawful association” for its failure to register before last year’s November election.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) party lost its legal status after boycotting the poll, complaining that conditions set by the military government were unfair and undemocratic.

It said the rules prohibited hundreds of its detained members from running for seats in parliament.

Parties linked to the country’s military leadership won the polls, which many observers have decried as a “sham” aimed at perpetuating army rule.

‘Last legal avenue’

Friday’s decision raises questions about Suu Kyi’s ability to initiate change in the country, following her release from a seven-year house arrest on November 13 last year.

Nyan Win, a lawyer for the political party, said the ruling was its “last legal avenue”.

“The right to appeal has finished here. We will do whatever we can after discussing with our leaders as soon as we get back to Yangon.”

Suu Kyi’s party won the country’s elections in 1990, but the army would not let it take power and refused to convene parliament.

The court’s ruling came just ahead of the convening of the new parliamentary session, the first since 1988, when a military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations installed the adminstration.

Source: News Agencies