Election chief considers dissolving Suu Kyi’s party

NAYPYITAW (AP):

The head of Myanmar’s military-appointed state election commission said Friday that his agency will consider dissolving Aung San Suu Kyi’s former ruling party for alleged involvement in electoral fraud, and having its leaders charged with treason.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy came to power after a landslide 2015 election victory, and won an even greater majority in last November’s general election. It was set to start a second term in February when the military seized power in a coup, arresting her and dozens of top government officials and party members.

Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing cited electoral fraud as the reason for the army’s takeover, saying “there was terrible fraud in the voter lists.” The army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which suffered unexpectedly heavy losses in the election, made similar allegations.

Independent observers dispute the assertions of widespread irregularities.

Political parties were called to discuss planned changes in the electoral system at a meeting yesterday. Union Election Commission chairman Thein Soe said an investigation of last year’s election that would soon be completed showed that Suu Kyi’s party had illegally worked with the government to give itself an advantage at the polls.

“We will investigate and consider whether the party should be dissolved, and whether the perpetrators should be punished as traitors,” he said.