Burma: Crossed Off The Ballot

• Share

Can an opposition figure confined to her home and permitted to see only immediate relatives be elected to Parliament? The military government of Burma is taking no chances with the charismatic Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since July. Last week a regional election commission barred Suu Kyi, who rose to prominence during pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988, from running in elections scheduled for late May.

The complaint against Suu Kyi, filed by an opponent representing the government-backed National Unity Party, is that she is not a Burmese resident and that she has ties to subversive groups. Suu Kyi, whose husband is British, lived in England for many years.

Her disqualification erased any pretense, which was already wearing thin, that the upcoming vote, the first multiparty election in Burma since 1960, would be legitimate. At least 2,000 government critics have been arrested since July.