Judd Gregg - United States Senator for New Hampshire: News - Press Releases 28.05.

10 17:19

SENATORS MARK 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF BURMESE ELECTION, CONDEMN

CONTINUING REPRESSION

May 27, 2010 Printer-friendly

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bipartisan group of Senators -- including Senate Republican

Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-
CA), Judd Gregg (R-NH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Sam Brownback (R-KS) -- issued the
following statement today, on the twentieth anniversary of the last general election in
Burma:

“Twenty years ago today, the people of Burma bravely sought to exercise their universal
human right to elect a government of their own choosing and handed a landslide victory to
their country’s major opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Rather than honoring the democratic will of the people of Burma
as it had promised, however, the ruling military junta refused to surrender power and
instead launched a campaign of repression that continues to this day.

“On the twentieth anniversary of this election, we reaffirm our conviction that the people of
Burma deserve the freedom to choose their future for themselves. We condemn the
continuing dictatorship imposed by the junta and call on its ruling generals to release all
prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally, and to begin a genuine political
dialogue with opposition and ethnic groups and leaders, including with Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi.

“We also condemn the recent election laws adopted by the junta to perpetuate its rule and
weaken the opposition. These election laws—which required the NLD to expel its
imprisoned members in order to register—confirm that the vote that the junta has
promised later this year represents yet another a mockery of the democratic process in
Burma.

“Rather than accept the junta’s outrageous election laws, the NLD is now forced into
dissolution. While we recognize that this was a painful decision for the NLD’s leaders, we
applaud and honor their courage in upholding the principles that have guided their efforts
since the party’s founding. While the NLD may have lost its legal status in Burma, it has
not lost its legitimacy in the eyes of millions in Burma and around the world. Indeed, that
is a power far beyond the reach of the junta.

“The junta’s recent actions should prompt the President to exercise the authority provided
to him by Section 5 of the 2008 Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act to impose targeted
banking sanctions against the regime and its leaders. We also urge the Obama
administration to nominate a Special Representative and Policy Coordinator to Burma, as
required by law.

“We remain convinced that the day will come when freedom returns to Burma and the
voice of the people of Burma -- as expressed on May 27, 1990 -- is at last honored. Until
that day comes, however, we pledge to stand in solidarity with the people of Burma and
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Judd Gregg - United States Senator for New Hampshire: News - Press Releases 28.05.10 17:19

that day comes, however, we pledge to stand in solidarity with the people of Burma and
support all peaceful efforts to restore democracy there.”

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