BURMESE OPPOSITION LEADER Aung San Suu Kyi has suspended her election campaign due to ill health – just one week before she was due to stand for a seat in parliament.
A spokesperson for the National League for Democracy (NLDP) said that Suu Kyi’s personal physician last weekend advised against her continuing the campaign. The 66-year-old Nobel peace prize winner was placed on an intravenous drip after she began vomiting while travelling by boat in the Megui archipelago, reports the BBC.
NDLP members told the Guardian that the authorities refused to allow Suu Kyi’s party access to a large ferry-type vessel, which would have allowed the group to travel quickly. Instead, they were forced to travel in smaller boats, making the journey three times longer.
Her doctor, Tin Myo Win, said that her illness was due to heat and exhaustion. She has been advised to rest.
The NDLP has made several allegations of unfair treatment by the authorities, such as selective bans on using large spaces like football stadiums. Claims that voting registries containing the names of dead people have been opened – creating the potential for electoral fraud – have also been raised.
Suu Kyi was released from house arrest last year, after being detained for 15 of the past 20 years.
In 1990, Suu Kyi political party the National League for Democracy won the majority vote in the Burma’s general election. However, military refused to hand over power, prompting an international outcry.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say