SAEDNEWS: Ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains in military detention, but her absence dominates the junta-run elections touted as a return to democracy.
The Nobel laureate’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party was dissolved after its landslide 2020 victory was nullified by the military, AFP reported.
Suu Kyi has spent nearly two decades in detention, much of it under house arrest at her Yangon residence.
Her party’s 1990 election win was also ignored by the military, which refused to relinquish power.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while detained, having declined an offer of freedom in exchange for permanent exile.
The military eventually released her in 2010, days after an election her party had boycotted.
The NLD’s 2015 election victory sparked jubilant celebrations and a wave of optimism.
However, her international reputation suffered significantly due to her government’s handling of the Rohingya crisis.
In 2019, she defended Myanmar against genocide charges at the United Nations’ top court, siding with the military.
The army seized power again in 2021, citing alleged fraud in the 2020 election her party had won.
Since then, activists have risen up—first as protesters, and now as guerrilla fighters in a civil war.
For her supporters in Myanmar, Suu Kyi’s name remains synonymous with democracy.
Her absence from the ballot is seen as evidence that the upcoming vote will be neither free nor fair.
