THE DECISION this week by Burma’s National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, to boycott the country’s forthcoming elections was both inevitable and understandable. To do otherwise would have been to give political credibility to a profoundly flawed election and equally dubious parliament, and to repudiate both its own leader and its many jailed activists. The NLD decisively won the last election in Burma in 1990 – 60 per cent of the vote and 80 per cent of seats – but was prevented by the military from assuming power.
Some of the opposition in Burma have until recently leaned towards participating, arguing that doing so would give them a platform, however limited. But the election, the date of which is expected to be announced any day, will be no exercise in accountability. In truth it is only a crude and implausible attempt to legitimise the continued rule of a brutal military regime.
The parameters for the election are set by the 2008 constitution which entrenches military power by reserving 25 per cent of seats for the army, creating a strong new national defence and security council on which the military retains a majority, and vesting extraordinary powers in the commander-in-chief. It grants immunity to all members of the current regime for acts committed in the course of their duties and gives the military a veto on constitutional change. Reinforced by March 9th electoral rules, it also bans candidates who are or were in jail for political offences, requiring parties to exclude them from their ranks or face dissolution.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the last 21 years in detention, has indicated she “would not dream” of entering the elections. And the respected International Crisis Group reports that “the main reaction of the populace to it and the forthcoming elections is indifference, rooted in a belief that nothing much will change”.
Internationally the campaign to isolate the junta has been strengthened by a report and welcome recommendations by the UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana, who describes “a pattern of gross and systematic violation of human rights” of civilians. The abuses, including killings, rape, torture, ethnic cleansing and forced labour, were the result of long-standing state policy, he said. He has rightly urged the UN to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma and to bring charges against members of the regime.