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.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS