William Hague condemns 'sham' Burma election

Struggle: Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
12 April 2012

Foreign Secretary William Hague has denounced planned elections in Burma as "a sham process designed to keep the regime in power".

The Foreign office criticised the country's military regime after it emerged that The National League for Democracy, the main opposition party, had been banned less than two months before the November 7 poll.

The League, led by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi, won the last national elections to be staged in the south-east Asian state in 1990, but the generals overturned the result.

The Foreign Office also said Burma had rejected the registration of five parties representing some of the country's ethnic minorities, and called off the polls in areas where ethnic minorities are dominant.

Mr Hague said: "These actions expose the elections in Burma for what they are - a sham process designed to keep the regime in power and deny the Burmese people their right to freely choose their leaders.

"The elections should have been a chance for national reconciliation; helping to end decades of ethnic conflict and needless poverty in the country. This opportunity is being squandered.

"These latest developments should be greeted with dismay and condemnation by the international community and a renewed determination to support the people of Burma."

Shadow foreign secretary David Miliband said: "These elections will not be free, and they will not be fair. All these elections will do is tighten the junta's grip on the throat of Burma's people.

"Political opinions in Burma are effectively banned, and while the people of Burma are prevented from being able to speak out, it's important we do so on their behalf.

"There are over 2,200 political prisoners in Burma, some with ill health in state prisons of varying deterioration. The freedoms of assembly, of speech, and of political opinion have been consumed by the military state.

"It is vital that international pressure begins to build on the junta to release political prisoners and improve human rights."

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