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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Suu Kyi refuses to vote

suu Kyi's party has been dissolved by the authorities because it chose to boycott next month's vote, saying the rules were unfair. -- PHOTO: AP


YANGON - DETAINED opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will refuse to vote in Myanmar's widely criticised election, the first in the military-ruled country in 20 years, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been informed by the authorities that she has the right to cast a ballot on Nov 7. 'If so, she said she will not vote,' her attorney Nyan Win told AFP.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won the country's last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power, and the democracy icon has spent most of the past two decades in detention.

Her party has been dissolved by the authorities because it chose to boycott next month's vote, saying the rules were unfair.

'The NLD will not compete so she said she has no party to vote for even if she is allowed to vote. As the NLD is not participating in the election, she will not vote,' said Nyan Win.

Suu Kyi's backing of a boycott has led to a split within the opposition between those who support her defiant stance and others who see the vote as the only hope for progress. -- AFP

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