NLD Expects Invitation to Reconvened National Convention

Burma’s main opposition National League for Democracy, or NLD, expects to be invited to the reconvened National Convention, a senior party official said Thursday.

NLD spokesman U Lwin said in a telephone interview on Thursday that the Rangoon government would have to issue the party with an invitation to attend.

U Lwin

“We are the opposition,” U Lwin said. “So there has to be something like dialogue… or something like that with us. They [the government] will have to come to us, in a way.”

U Lwin was commenting on Tuesday’s announcement by Lt-Gen Thein Sein, Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC, that the resumed convention would draft a new constitution by next February. Thein Sein, also chairman of the National Convention Convening Commission, gave no exact date.

The NLD refused to attend the National Convention when it resumed on May 17, maintaining that the government hadn’t changed its “undemocratic” proceedings.

The National Convention was initiated in 1993, but three years later the NLD walked out, criticizing the proceedings. The government then suspended the convention, calling it together again last May. But in July it was again adjourned.

In August last year, Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt—ousted last month—unveiled the government’s seven-point road map that included steps towards drafting a new constitution and holding elections.

NLD Spokesman U Lwin said the party was now deliberating over how to respond if it were invited to attend the convention. Discussions were also being held with other organizations including the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, or SNLD.

The SNLD, runner-up to the NLD in 1990 election, also refused to attend the Convention in May.