democracy

US presses Suu Kyi for inclusive election

Agence France-Presse

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US presses Suu Kyi for inclusive election

(FILES) This file photo taken on September 8, 2020 shows Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi wearing a face shield and mask as she attends a flag-raising ceremony for the National League for Democracy (NLD) party to mark the first day of election campaigning in Naypyidaw. - The elderly former political prisoners at the helm of Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling party in Myanmar are preventing the rise of younger members, who are frustrated by the "oppressive" and ossified ways of the old guard. (Photo by Thet Aung / AFP)

AFP

After her triumphant accession to power, Suu Kyi has lost her iconic status in the West with governments that once backed her

The United States on Tuesday, October 27, urged Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to promote an inclusive election and renewed its concern over the marginalization of the Rohingya minority.

In a telephone call to Suu Kyi, State Department number 3 David Hale voiced support for democracy in Myanmar and called for a “credible, transparent, and inclusive national election” on November 8.

Hale “pressed the Burmese government to end conflict across the country and secure the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya and other refugees and internally displaced persons,” a State Department statement said, using Myanmar’s former name Burma.

Nearly two million people have been disenfranchised in the election – notably the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim people denied citizenship and targeted in a brutal campaign that has led to Myanmar facing genocide charges before the UN’s top court.

Electoral authorities have also excluded swathes of minority-heavy areas from the vote, ostensibly due to security concerns.

The election is only the second since the end of outright rule by the military, which for years kept Suu Kyi under house arrest.

After her triumphant accession to power, Suu Kyi has lost her iconic status in the West with governments that once backed her. They are now dismayed by her equivocal statements on the campaign against the Rohingya. – Rappler.com

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