Myanmar to hold elections in 2010, junta chief says

Oct 10, 2009, 6:10 GMT

   Yangon - Myanmar's military supremo has confirmed that a general election is scheduled for 2010, state media reported Saturday.

   'Elections will be systematically held in 2010 for Hluttaws [parliaments] that will emerge in accordance with the constitution,' Senior General Than Shwe said Friday in a speech to the Myanmar War Veterans Organization, The New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

   'In the period of changing from one system to another, various parties and different beliefs will emerge,' said Than Shwe, the head of the State Peace and Development Council, as the ruling junta calls itself.

   The election, which promises to be neither free nor fair in a country long condemned for human rights abuses, was planned after the passage of the 2008 constitution, which essentially cements the military's control over any democratically elected government.

   Than Shwe spoke at the military's headquarters in the capital, Naypyitaw, on the same day that the regime allowed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi a rare meeting with foreign diplomats in Yangon, the former capital.

   Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, was allowed to meet acting US Charge d'Affaires Thomas Vajda; British Ambassador Andrew Heyn, who represented the European Union; and Australian Deputy Head of Mission Simon Christopher Starr for an hour to discuss the possible lifting of sanctions on Myanmar.

   'Aung San Suu Kyi sought the meeting to obtain information about the sanctions policies of the Australian and the United States governments and the European Union to inform her discussions with the State Peace and Development Council,' the Australian embassy said in a statement after the talks.

   'The government [of Australia] sees this as a positive step by both the Burmese authorities and Aung San Suu Kyi,' the statement added.

   Western democracies and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have warned that the world community would not accept the outcome of a general election next year unless the NLD participates in the polls and Suu Kyi is freed from house detention, where she has been kept for 14 of the past 20 years.

   The surprise meeting Friday followed two sessions of talks this month between Suu Kyi and the junta's liaison, Relations Minister Aung Kyi, to discuss her proposal to help end sanctions against the regime.

   Suu Kyi sent a letter September 25 to Than Shwe, offering to help persuade Western democracies to lift their economic sanctions.

   Suu Kyi, 64, asked Than Shwe permission to meet with Western diplomats and expressed willingness to cooperate with the junta on sanctions.

   International sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar since 1988 when the military brutally cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, leaving an estimated 3,000 people dead.

   The United States and the European Union increased their sanctions after the junta refused to acknowledge the NLD's victory in 1990 elections and then arrested critics and suppressed all forms of dissent. Many of the sanctions target the top generals specifically.

   Than Shwe hinted this year that he would be willing to open a political dialogue with Suu Kyi if she agreed to cooperate on the sanctions issue.

   Most Western nations have demanded that Than Shwe release Suu Kyi and about 2,000 other political prisoners as a first step toward democratization in the country, which has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi and the NLD demand the same thing.