Myanmar parties join calls to lift sanctions

YANGON – Two prominent Myanmar opposition parties on Thursday added their voices to calls for Western powers to lift sanctions, as the country prepares for a new parliament after controversial elections.
The National Democratic Force (NDF) and the Democratic Party (Myanmar) said the punitive measures were “not beneficial”, echoing calls made by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other, major ethnic parties. Khin Maung Swe, a leader of the NDF, said his party had asked the United States to review the sanctions.
“There should not be a determination to impose sanctions to achieve human rights and democracy by neglecting the development of the country and the people,” he said. Khin Maung Swe called for the termination of all sanctions, which include penalties imposed by the US, Europe and other Western nations aimed at members of Myanmar’s junta, trade restrictions and other measures.
“Trade and investment sanctions are harming the country and the people, directly or indirectly,” he added. Democratic Party chairman Thu Wai said his party concurred. “We have urged all sanctions to be lifted as these are not beneficial for the people,” he said. Both parties won seats in Myanmar’s controversial election in November. The NDF, which split from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) to contest the vote, will take 16 seats when parliament and regional legislatures convene on January 31. The Democratic Party has three seats.
The government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed an overwhelming majority in the polls, winning 882 out of around 1,160 seats amid allegations of fraud and intimidation, plus the exclusion of democracy icon Suu Kyi. Five ethnic parties, including the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), which has 57 seats in the new parliament, issued a declaration on Sunday saying sanctions caused “many difficulties” in ethnic minority regions. ASEAN, which welcomed the release of Suu Kyi from more than seven years under house arrest in Yangon shortly after the vote, issued a statement on Sunday and said the measures should be reviewed.