Vietnam: Myanmar elections should include "all parties"

Apr 9, 2010, 6:50 GMT

Hanoi - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called Friday on Myanmar to ensure all parties can take part in its upcoming elections.

Dung was speaking as chair of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), scheduled to close Friday in Hanoi.

The Myanmar elections 'should be fair and democratic, with the participation of all parties,' Dung said in response to a reporter's query.

The most controversial question at the summit was how to address member state Myanmar's poor human rights record and its manipulation of its elections process.

Myanmar's ruling military junta has promised to hold general elections this year, but laws introduced in March have effectively barred opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running.

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has boycotted the elections in response.

Dung's statement appeared to criticize these developments, though he did not specify whether 'all parties' included Suu Kyi or the NLD.

The statement was striking coming from the head of a single-party Communist state that had earlier said Myanmar's elections would not be on the agenda at the summit.

Vietnam has cultivated close relations with Myanmar in recent months, and Dung paid an official visit to the country in early April.

The governments of Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, however, have raised the issue of Myanmar elections at the summit.

On Wednesday, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Myanmar's restrictive election laws 'may lead to problems among ASEAN leaders and the international community.'

Dung's statement that the elections should include all parties seemed to reflect the consensus among ASEAN leaders rather than Vietnamese views.

He also said that during his visit to Myanmar he had 'forwarded to the government and people of Myanmar ASEAN's message that we hope to see Myanmar effectively implement (its) road map for democracy, peace and national concord.'

ASEAN membership consists of Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.