Philippine activists denounce new Myanmar election laws

Mar 19, 2010, 8:24 GMT

Manila - Philippine activists marched to the Myanmar embassy in Manila Friday to denounce a new election law that disqualifies pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running in a planned election this year.

More than 100 protestors urged the United Nations and other countries not to recognize the new law, which they described as 'one of the tragic results of the junta's sham roadmap to democracy.'

'Unless the military rulers of Burma seriously initiate tangible reforms, the 2010 elections will be widely perceived as incredible and undemocratic,' said Egoy Bans, a spokesman for the Free Burma Coalition-Philippines that organized the protest.

'Instead of employing an all-inclusive process, the regime opted to bypass all norms of decency by creating an election law in a very secretive and exclusive manner,' he added.

The new Myanmar election law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party or a candidate in the elections, which are not yet scheduled but expected to be held later in the year.

Under the new law, Suu Kyi - who has spend 14 of the past 21 years under house arrest - is ineligible to run, since she was recently convicted by a Myanmar court of violating the terms of her house arrest.

The new decree would also prevent Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party from contesting the elections, even with another candidate, as long as she remains on its membership rolls, according to a party spokesman.