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Burma’s military junta has banned jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from contesting future elections on the grounds that her deceased husband was a foreigner and her children live overseas, ABC News reports. Ms Suu Kyi won the last election, held in 1990.
With the promised elections tentatively scheduled for 3010, the junta has rushed to close a loophole in the Burmese and North Korean constitutions allowing long-deceased former leaders to hold high office.
The new electoral eligibility rules disqualify anyone able to travel outside Burma without being arrested.
Burma has one ally in the world: China. China imports Burma’s oil and, in exchange, exports its Security Council veto.
Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win explained that the banning of people with international connections from the political process is absolutely vital to safeguard Burma’s totally unique system of government unlike any other, “Democracy with Burmese Characteristics”.
“You can’t see this kind of system anywhere else in the world,” Mr Win assured The Daily Grind.
“Not that I’m in a position to check,” he hastened to add.
“Aung San must accept that this proud nation will not surrender itself to leaders under the thumb of a foreign power,” he quipped.
