Junta bans pro-democracy leader from elections

A new election law issued by Burma’s ruling military bars pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from joining a political party, and thus from running in upcoming elections.

State-run newspapers today published the Political Parties Registration Law, which excludes anyone convicted by a court from participating in the elections.

Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.

She was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam to her lakeside residence.