Myanmar’s highest court yesterday refused to accept a lawsuit by Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party seeking to revoke laws that bar the detained leader and other opposition members from taking part in the country’s first election in two decades.
Lawyer Kyi Win said the Supreme Court refused to accept the lawsuit, saying it did not have the power to handle such a case.
It was unclear what steps if any the party would take next in its efforts to quash five election-related laws the ruling military enacted earlier this month that set out rules for this year’s vote.
One law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party and instructs parties to expel convicted members or face de-registration.
Another law requires parties to register for the elections or cease to exist.
The lawsuit was largely symbolic as the courts invariably adhere to the junta’s policies, especially on political matters.
The National League for Democracy’s (NLD) general secretary and one of its founders, Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted last year on charges of violating her house arrest when an US man swam uninvited to her lakeside property.
She is serving an 18-month term of house arrest and many top members of her party and ethnic-based parties are in prison.
“We are taking legal steps against the electoral laws as they are unfair and a violation of human rights, personal rights and organizational rights,” said Nyan Win, a party spokesman, before the attempted lodging of the lawsuit against the ruling State Peace and Development Council.
The elections have been scheduled for later this year, but no date has been set. The polls will be the first since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory. The junta ignored the results of that vote and has kept the Nobel Peace laureate jailed or under detention for 14 of the past 20 years.
The junta says the new laws formally invalidate the results of the 1990 polls because they repeal the election law under which those polls were held.
Lawyer Nyan Win said yesterday that Aung San Suu Kyi would “not even think” of registering the NLD under the junta’s restrictions, but she will let the party decide for itself.
The party plans to meet on Monday to decide whether to register for the elections.
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