Myanmar’s military-appointed election commission said it would dissolve Burmese State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), because of alleged fraud in the country’s general election in November last year, the Myanmar Now news agency reported yesterday, citing a Burmese military official.
Myanmar Now said that the decision was made during a meeting with political parties, which was boycotted by the NLD and other parties.
“We will have to dissolve the party’s registration,” Burmese Union Election Commission chairman Thein Soe was cited as saying in the report.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Those who committed the fraud “will be considered as traitors and we will take action,” Thein Soe said.
Spokespeople for the junta as well as for a NLD-backed national unity government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party said that it had representatives at the meeting, which was still going on, adding that he was not aware of the outcome.
The military in February took power alleging fraud in the election swept by the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, who had been fighting for democracy for decades before tentative reforms began a decade ago.
A later-disbanded electoral commission rejected the military’s complaints.
Security forces have killed more than 800 people since a wave of protests broke out after the coup, according to data by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners group.
Fighting has also flared between security forces and ethnic minority guerrilla groups.
The turmoil has alarmed Myanmar’s neigbors and the broader international community, but the military has shown no sign of any intention of seeking a compromise with the democracy movement.
Since her arrest on Feb. 1, Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in detention and faces numerous charges filed in two courts, the most serious under a colonial-era official secrets act, punishable by 14 years in prison.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, has been permitted to speak with lawyers only via a video link in the presence of security personnel. Her codefendant is Win Myint, the ousted president.
Opponents of the military have formed a national unity government, which operates under cover or through members based abroad.
It has announced that it is setting up of a defense force to challenge the junta.
Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said that his country, a major donor to Myanmar, would rethink its aid provision if the situation in the Southeast Asian nation does not improve.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of