BURMA

NLD to Hold Party Congress

By | Monday, March 4, 2013 |
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NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to the crowd at the opening of her party’s office in Naypyidaw in August 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — In another sign of political reform and reconciliation in Burma, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, will hold its first-ever congress in the country’s former capital this week.

“This will be the NLD’s first party congress since the party was formed more than 24 years ago,” NLD senior leader and parliamentarian Ohn Kyaing said on Sunday.

About 900 party members from 260 townships will attend the three-day conference starting Friday in Rangoon to choose the party’s new leadership and to lay down future policies and programs, said Ohn Kyaing, one of the organizers of the party assembly.

“Party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had said earlier that party central executive committee members had to be democratically elected but was unable to do so in the past because of an unfavorable political environment,” Ohn Kyaing told The Associated Press.

Suu Kyi, 67, co-founded the NLD party amid massive pro-democracy protests in 1988 and officially registered it on Sept. 27, 1988, after the demonstrations were violently suppressed by the then-ruling military junta.

The party won national elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the results were not recognized by the military government. Suu Kyi has been jailed or under house arrest for more than 15 of the past 21 years and hundreds of party members imprisoned, and the NLD was unable to hold a general assembly because of government repression.

“We had been unable to hold party assemblies because it was illegal to assemble under the previous regime. The upcoming party congress demonstrates the changing political landscape and openness in the country,” said party spokesman Nyan Win.

The ability of the NLD to hold such a meeting comes after Thein Sein was elected president in 2011 and instituted political reforms after almost five decades of repressive military rule. He has freed hundreds of political prisoners, abolished direct media censorship and allowed public protests as part of a democratic transition that has surprised the outside world though many in Burma remain skeptical.

Nyan Win said the party will elect 120 Central Committee members from various townships which will then elect a leadership to guide the party through the 2015 general elections. Suu Kyi is currently the party’s chairman.

Many NLD leaders are in their 70s or 80s and the general assembly is likely to inject fresh blood in preparation for the elections. The NLD had encountered unrest and splits party during grass-root level elections in the run-up to party congress, with complaints of lack of transparency and fairness.

The largest opposition party, the NLD won 43 of the 44 seats it contested in by-elections last April and will be the largest party to challenge the ruling party in 2015.


One Response to NLD to Hold Party Congress

  1. George Than Setkyar Heine Tuesday, March 5, 2013 - 5:04 am

    Let’s see what happens next of course.
    There are already many rumblings and discontent among the party faithful today.
    Daw Suu needs to WHIP the LOT in LINE in order to AVOID SPLITS and DISSENT among the rank and file of her party ONCE FEARED and DREADED by the military rulers no doubt.
    The past military regimes have DID THEIR BEST to DISCREDIT and DESTROY the NLD but to NO AVAIL until today.
    Of course INTERNAL SPLITS and RIFT ONLY could BLOW the PARTY APART and WIDE OPEN and that’s the AIM, TARGET and PLOY of Thein Sein and his lot in the USDP would FOCUS in the run up to 2015 trust me.
    The military will KEEP the ETHNIC CONFLICTS ALIVE in order to PUT the COUNTRY on its TOES for a start.
    At the same time Naypyidaw administration will STIR UP UNREST among the POPULACE like CRACKDOWNS on DISSENT – Letpadaung Copper Mine protests and Maubin police crackdown on people – culminating out of LAND GRABS and other INJUSTICES on the people taking advantage of their RIGHTS and FREEDOM to EXPRESS their DESIRES and RECLAIM their LOST LANDS and LIVELIHOODS like today among many others in the pipeline and about to follow in the future as well.
    Citing the UNREST in the country as WROUGHT UPON by Thein Sein’s regime,of course the present regime at Napypidaw will CONTINUE its RULE BY-PASSING the 2015 elections as NLD would CERTAINLY CLAIM VICTORY in case GIVEN A LEVEL FIELD and EQUAL FOOTING for that matter (election).
    Burma’s DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM and HUMAN RIGHTS WILL NOT COME OUT OF Naypyidaw much less Than Shwe controlled Thein Sein’s PUPPET PARLIAMENT, any bets?

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