Suu Kyi Urges Supporters to Monitor Election Closely

In a message transmitted by her lawyer, Burma's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said that although her National League for Democracy (NLD) is boycotting the upcoming election NLD members should monitor it closely and watch for voting irregularities.

Nyan Win, who was allowed to meet Suu Kyi on Tuesday, said: “Daw Suu said we cannot ignore the election even though we boycott it. She said all must keep a watch on the election process.”

During a press conference on Wednesday, he quoted her as saying that the future civilian government would be incapable of reining in the role of the president of the parliament, who will hold broad-ranging powers under the junta-designed 2008 Constitution.

Nyan Win said that Suu Kyi said the Nov. 7 choice of an election date showed disrespect to the people, and she also denounced state-run newspapers for making threats against the people regarding election activities.

Suu Kyi, whose current detention sentence is due to expire a week after the election on Nov. 7, said all Burmese people, including NLD members, are responsible for a free and fair election.

Suu Kyi's meeting with her lawyer followed last week's official NLD announcement of an election boycott.

Suu Kyi has said the Burmese election is unlikely to be free and fair because political parties will not have enough time to campaign.

Nyan Win said he discussed with the Noble Peace Laureate the latest election developments. According to Nyan Win, Suu Kyi said that people should not vote in the upcoming election if they have no party to support in the absence of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

“This is Daw Suu's answer to the debates she heard on the radio about what people should do without the NLD in this election,” said Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, who met with the detained pro-democracy leader on Tuesday.

Meanwhile NLD members led by veteran official Win Tin recently toured Burma reminding people of their legal right to avoid voting.

As Burma's largest opposition party, the NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 election but the military regime never acknowledged the result.

Although NLD members opposed to a boycott formed an opposition party, the National Democratic Force,to contest the November election, no pro-democracy party has emerged strong enough to compete with the junta's own proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Source: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19296