Prime Minister Gordon Brown calls election terms in Burma “restrictive and unfair”

Statement from the Prime Minister Gordon Brown

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called the terms of the Burmese election laws “restrictive and unfair” and called for an urgent meeting at the UN in New York to discuss these developments.

The laws have been published ahead of the election in the country later this year.

They prohibit anyone convicted by a court from joining a political party - excluding National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from taking part.

The PM said:

  “Burma has ignored the demands of the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General, the US, EU and its own neighbours by imposing restrictive and unfair terms on elections.

  The targeting of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD is particularly vindictive and callous. I have today written to the UN Secretary General to call for an urgent meeting in New York to discuss these developments.

  We will also seek international support to impose an arms embargo against Burma. Burma’s people are demanding political and economic freedom, and the international community must stand with them.”

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest. She was sentenced to a new term of house arrest that is due to end in November.

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