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Suu Kyi party to boycott election Suu Kyi party to boycott election
(10 minutes later)
Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) says it will not take part in the country's first elections in two decades.Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) says it will not take part in the country's first elections in two decades.
An NLD spokesman said the party had decided not to register because of "unjust" electoral laws.An NLD spokesman said the party had decided not to register because of "unjust" electoral laws.
The laws recently announced by the junta required the NLD to expel its detained leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, because she has a criminal record.The laws recently announced by the junta required the NLD to expel its detained leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, because she has a criminal record.
The laws also bar all political prisoners from taking part.The laws also bar all political prisoners from taking part.
No date has been set for the elections, but the military has pledged to hold them this year.No date has been set for the elections, but the military has pledged to hold them this year.
Ms Suu Kyi recently said she opposed participation in the polls but that the party should make its own decision. The NLD won the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win said the party had agreed that it could not participate in the elections under the new laws. No compromise
The decision followed a meeting of more than 100 NLD members in Rangoon.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win said the party had agreed that it could not participate in the elections under the new laws, which were announced in early March.
Aung San Suu Kyi had indicated that she opposed her party taking part
"After a vote of the committee of members, the NLD party has decided not to register as a political party because the election laws are unjust," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying."After a vote of the committee of members, the NLD party has decided not to register as a political party because the election laws are unjust," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
He had earlier indicated that the decision would likely go that way.
"We will continue to exist politically by not registering," he said before the meeting. "If we register, we will only have a name void of all political essence."
If the NLD had chosen to take part, it would have implied its acceptance of the military's constitution - something it has so far refused to do.
Last week Nyan Win said Ms Suu Kyi had told him the party should "not even think" of taking part in the polls because of the nature of the election laws.
But some senior NLD leaders had argued the party risked rendering itself irrelevant if it chose not to contest the polls, even though that participation would be constrained by the military.
Win Tin, a veteran NLD member and one of Burma's longest serving political prisoners, described the meeting as a "life-or-death issue".
"If we don't register, we will not have a party and we will be without legs and limbs," he said before the meeting.
The new election laws have been condemned by the UN, US and UK, amongst others.
They state that parties cannot have any members with criminal convictions - which rules out many top NLD leaders who have been jailed because of their political activism.
The laws also ban members of religious orders and civil servants from joining political parties. Buddhist monks were the driving forces behind anti-junta protests in 2007.