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EU to urge Myanmar junta to accept pre-election mission
(AFP) – 22 hours ago

BRUSSELS — The EU hopes to send an "exploratory mission" to Myanmar to discuss with the military junta the country's upcoming elections, despite controversial voting laws, a diplomatic source said Friday.

The European Union also calls on Myanmar's military leaders "to cooperate fully" with Piero Fassino, its special envoy to the country, in a text approved by representatives of the 27 European Union nations which will be formally adopted by EU foreign ministers on Monday.

The ministers will express "serious concerns" at new Myanmar election laws published last month which "do not provide for free and fair elections", according to the text seen by AFP.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), party of Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, is boycotting this year's legislative polls, the first for 20 years, as it would have been forced to oust its iconic leader and recognise the junta's constitution if it had signed up.

"The EU believes that despite everything there is room for manoeuvre," the European diplomat said.

"But we are only prepared to go there if we are received at the highest level. We are not prepared to be humiliated."

The NLD risk being dissolved by the Myanmar junta if they do not take part in the polls which are set to take place by the end of November.

Suu Kyi's NLD were the main winners in the last elections in 1990, but the military junta, in power since 1962, refused to recognise those results.

Since then the Nobel Peace prize winner has spent much of the time under house arrest.

The United States has led international condemnation of laws Myanmar has enacted for the ballot, the first in the military-run country in two decades, which effectively bar Aung San Suu Kyi from participating.

Last month the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution expressing concern that election laws failed to include the necessary elements to guarantee an inclusive political process.
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