Tokyo/Bangkok, December 15 (EFE). – The youngest son of Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi urged this Monday to oppose the “electoral farce” of the military junta in Burma, for which phased elections are scheduled from December 28, and warned about the health of his mother, who has been in prison since the 2021 military coup.
“We know that the vote will be manipulated in one way or another (…) it is an electoral farce,” Kim Aris said during an event at the National Press Club of Japan.
The first phase of elections organized by the military regime, which banned the Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) party after the uprising, will take place in 102 of the country’s 330 municipalities.
The military, which has announced a second phase for January 11, recognizes that the vote will not reach all parts of the country, with chaos and clashes occurring across the country between the army and various guerrillas and armed groups, while no real opposition is allowed in the vote.
“I ask all world leaders to take a firm stance; this situation cannot continue,” said Aris, who said the last contact he had with his mother was a letter he received and sent from prison two years ago.
Suu Kyi’s health is fragile, says the son of the ousted Burmese politician, who was imprisoned by previous military governments for more than 15 years before the latest coup.
“I just hope to see her again. I think her condition is not good: she has gum problems, she has difficulty eating, she has bone and heart problems,” said Aris, who is in Japan to lead a campaign against the Burmese military junta and where he demonstrated against the Burmese embassy in Tokyo on Sunday.
The military argued there was massive fraud in the November 2020 takeover election, which Suu Kyi’s party won with a large majority and the approval of independent international monitors.
The military coup ended a decade of democratic transition and deepened the conflict that Burma had been embroiled in for decades, with the emergence of pro-democracy guerrillas who sometimes joined forces with historic ethnic minority rebel groups.
“Without the support of China and Russia, the military junta would have lost long ago,” says the activist, pointing to Beijing’s financial support as well as the recognition and military aid that Moscow provides to Naypyidaw. EFE
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