(Reuters) – The European Union on Sunday denounced a proposal by Myanmar’s junta-appointed election commission to dissolve deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), which overwhelmingly won the general election in November.
“If the Commission were to proceed with this proposal, it would show yet again the junta’s blatant disregard for the will of Myanmar’s people and for due legal process,” a spokeswoman of the EU’s executive Commission said in a statement.
On Friday, media cited the chairman of the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC), Thein Soe, as saying the panel would have to dissolve the NLD for committing vote fraud in the November election.
Myanmar’s army seized power on Feb. 1, overthrowing and detaining the elected civilian leader Suu Kyi, who led a non-violent struggle against dictatorship in the last two decades of the military’s 1962-2011 rule of Myanmar.
The military justified its coup by accusing the NLD of obtaining a landslide victory through a manipulated vote, though the electoral commission at that time rejected its complaints. The NLD says it won fairly.
The EU echoed the NLD’s position, underscoring the party’s victory had been confirmed by all independent domestic and international observers.
“No repression or unfounded pseudo-legal proceedings can grant legitimacy to the junta’s illegal takeover of power,” the spokeswoman for the EU Commission said.
“The EU will continue to denounce all attempts to overturn the will of the Myanmar people and to alter the outcome of the last general elections.”
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
