Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party was legally dissolved last Thursday, marking the end of the party’s 21-year struggle to overturn military rule in Burma.

Members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) decided to disband the party rather than ratify new election laws that they feared would make them puppets of the current regime.

The new laws require political parties to expel individuals with prior criminal convictions, effectively driving out the many NLD members who have been and remain political prisoners. This would also disqualify the party’s leader, Suu Kyi, who has been detained under house arrest for the past 14 years following the NLD’s landslide victory in the 1990 general election.

With Burma’s first election in over 20 years slated for this fall, the enacted laws have received widespread criticism. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that elections held without the full participation of political prisoners, and Suu Kyi in particular, may not be regarded as legitimate. International observers have questioned the credibility of the proposed elections altogether, fearing that it will be used by the military to further consolidate its control.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong San Soo Chee) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 in recognition of her work in the non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. For 14 of the past 19 years, Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest by the Burmese military junta. She is the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

LEARN MORE

Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party disbands in Burma, The Washington Post, 7 May 2010.

Senior Burma NLD leader defiant as party disbands, BBC, 6 May 2010.

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