Myanmar dissolves Aung San Suu Kyi’s party ahead of controversial elections

The ruling party of former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was among 40 political parties disbanded by a military election commission on Tuesday after failing to meet a registration deadline for elections set to maintain the military’s political dominance.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is one of dozens of parties that have held parliamentary seats over the past decade that have been weakened by the 2021 military coup and a crackdown on opponents.

Many parties were unable or unwilling to contest the elections, which critics generally dismissed as fraudulent.

In a live broadcast late Tuesday, state-run Myawaddy TV said 63 parties had registered for the election at the local or national level and named 40 parties that were automatically disbanded for failing to enter.

Political activists were arrested

The poll, the date of which has not yet been announced, is almost certain to be swept by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a military proxy that was defeated by the NLD in the 2015 election and in the 2020 vote that ended with the generals. canceled, stating unaddressed irregularities.

“We absolutely do not accept that elections will be held when many political leaders and political activists are arrested and people are tortured by the military,” said Bo Bo Oo, one of the elected members of parliament from Suu Kyi’s party. said Tuesday.

The highly-acclaimed Nobel laureate Suu Kyi is among the many NLD officials currently in prison. He has been found guilty of various counts of corruption, violation of state secrets law and sedition, among other crimes.

Suu Kyi, 77, is serving a total of 33 years in prison after being found guilty of several political charges brought by the military.

His supporters said the charges were fabricated to prevent him from participating in politics.

Post-coup conflict

The National League for Democracy was founded in 1988 after a failed uprising against the military government. It won the 1990 general election which was invalidated by the country’s military authorities.

It was technically banned after the boycott of the 2010 elections held under military auspices because it felt it was not free or fair, but it was allowed to register when it agreed to run in 2011. It took power after a great victory in the 2015 general election.

The army says it is conducting the 2021 takeover because of massive poll fraud, although independent election observers have found no major violations. Some critics of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the takeover and is now Myanmar’s supreme leader, believe he acted because the vote interfered with his own political ambitions.

A new poll is expected at the end of July, according to the army’s own plans. But in February, the military announced a six-month extension of the state of emergency, delaying the legal date for holding elections. He said security cannot be guaranteed.

The military does not control large swaths of the country, where it faces widespread armed resistance to its rule.

“Amidst the repression of the country after the 2021 coup, there is no credible election, especially when many of the population see the vote as a cynical attempt to change the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in 2020,” the report said. issued Tuesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank.

“The polls will almost certainly escalate the post-coup conflict, as the regime seeks to hold it together and resistance groups seek to disrupt it.”