Hundreds of delegates registered yesterday for a constitution-drafting convention, but pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party -- key to resolving Myanmar's political deadlock -- remained undecided on whether to attend.
Dozens of buses carrying the delegates arrived at the venue, about 40km from the capital, Yangon, and were shown to their rooms near the conference hall.
The military government is providing free accommodation to the more than 1,100 delegates for the duration of the National Convention, which begins on Monday. The government has not said how long it will last.
Rules say delegates had to register yesterday and today, indicating that those who did not may not be allowed to attend.
However, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party remained undecided because it has not received a guarantee from the government that debate will be free and open, a key condition for attending, party spokesman U Lwin said.
Other conditions set by the party include a guarantee that its views will be heard, a review of the objectives of the convention, and freedom to select its own delegates.
Five delegates from each of the country's 10 recognized political parties have been invited to attend, but notable exceptions are 1991 Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and party Vice Chairman Tin Oo, both of whom remain under house arrest.
"We are still waiting for a reply from the government. I am hopeful we will get some response," U Lwin said late on Wednesday, declining to elaborate.
Myanmar's military government has been widely criticized by the US and Europe over its human rights record and its repeated detention of Suu Kyi and other opposition figures.
On Wednesday, Swedish Ambassador Jan Axel Nordlander, based in neighboring Thailand, said during a visit to Yangon that "we will regard the National Convention as a failure" if the NLD does not participate.
"We very much hope that Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo will be liberated within hours or before the convening of the National Convention," he said.
The National Unity Party, a successor of former dictator Ne Win's Socialist Party, said it will register today.
NUP won 10 seats in the 1990 election, which the junta called two years after seizing power. The polls were won by the NLD but the military refused to step down.
Myanmar currently has no constitution, and the junta says the National Convention is a first step in a seven-point roadmap to democracy.
It convened a similar convention in 1993, which collapsed after the NLD walked out in 1995, charging that it was being forced to rubber-stamp the junta's decisions.
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