Some National League for Democracy (NLD) members are planning on leaving Aung San Suu Kyi’s party after being snubbed and left off the official list of approved candidates for November’s poll.
Announced on August 1, the roll call was conspicuously missing several high-profile names, including Yangon University rector Aung Thu and ’88 Generation’ activist Ko Ko Gyi, who has spent more than 17 years in prison for his pro-democracy efforts, Reuters reported.
Ko Ko Gyi, who was released in 2012, could not be reached for comment. But Myo Khin, an NLD lawmaker representing Yankin Township told Voice Weekly that “most people can’t accept the candidate selection” because the crop of approved names are unqualified.
“The problem of the current situation is not between old and new members. They can’t accept the selection because the party selected those who have nothing to show for what they’ve done,” he added. “But, there are some people with bad images, so we don’t dare to make election campaign or them. That’s why I’m planning to leave.”
Myo Khin, who did not identify any of those unqualified or with “bad images”, said he would register as an independent.
There was no explicit reasoning behind the decision. The NLD only picked one 88 Generation activist out of a total of 18 people.
The group is known for leading pro-democracy protests in 1998 and spending many years in prison after being arrested. Without their actions and support Aung San Suu Kyi would arguably not be where she is today.
While 88 Generation activists were passed over, newer names were not, such as anti-hate speech blogger and former political prisoner Nay Phone Latt, who is popular with younger voters.
“We are choosing the most suitable MPs for the country,” an NLD spokesman told Reuters, not mentioning why the 88 Generation activists were not suitable. “Everyone has the right to apply as candidates but the committee needs to choose the best people.”
To be fair, it seems as if almost everyone did apply.
The opposition NLD received 3,000 applications for what will be 1,090 positions, according to Reuters.
Myanmar’s election is scheduled for November 8.
Photo / Wikicommons
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