Indian parliamentarians have applauded the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) decision not to participate in the Burmese junta’s planned elections, which would be the first in two decades.
The Indian Parliamentarians Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB) said the NLD’s decision on Monday was a bold step in opposition to the military junta, countering the junta’s continuing plans to sustain power through stage-managed elections.
Sharad Joshi, convenor of the IPFDB, told Mizzima, “It is a great step to boycott the elections.”
Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD has decided not to participate in the upcoming election, sighting the electoral laws as unfair and the fact that the junta has not revised the 2008 constitution, which the NLD claims was written in a one-sided fashion.
The decision came after a meeting of members of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and Central Committee of States and Divisions at Rangoon headquarters on Monday.
The junta’s electoral laws, announced earlier this month, restrict Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners from running for office in the upcoming elections. According to the laws, if the party wishes to contest the polls it will have to exclude Aung San Suu Kyi and several other NLD’s Central Committee members.
While the IPFDB voiced their support on the NLD’s decision, a New Delhi think tank, Centre for Policy Research, said the NLD is making a mistake by staying out of the political process, as the elections could be a window of opportunity.
Sanjay Hazarika, the Managing Trustee for the Centre’s Northeast Studies and Policy Research, told Mizzima, “The party [NLD] must think of the interests of the people of Burma instead of the interests of individual party leaders.”
Hazarika said though it is unfortunate that the NLD must leave out Aung San Suu Kyi, it would still do well to participate in the elections, as it would allow the party to have a role in the process.
He believes that the election would be the best opportunity to fight the regime, as there are no other institutions remaining to fight, including the sangha (monks), who failed in the 2007 protests.
“This kind of opportunity might not come again, how long will the party wait for such an opportunity? We cannot live in hope that the people will take part in another uprising against a brutal military regime that kills its own people,” Hazarika added.
The NLD, for its part, is in a difficult situation, as they will be declared outlawed if they refuse to re-register as a political party. But if they do so, they will have to abandon their leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with several other leaders still languishing in prisons across the country.
