AP-Myanmar Democrats Hold to Electi

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Subject: AP-Myanmar Democrats Hold to Election

Thursday September 16 10:39 AM ET

Myanmar Democrats Hold to Election

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's democratic opposition, led by Nobel Peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, declared Thursday that it would never relinquish
the 1990 election victory that the ruling military refuses to recognize.

``We decide that we will never retract our call to convene a parliament and
we will never dissolve the committee representing parliament,'' said a
statement issued by the National League for Democracy.

The party, led by the charismatic Suu Kyi, won 82 percent of the 491 seats
in the 1990 polls. The military, which has ruled Myanmar - also known as
Burma - since 1962, never recognized the result.

The statement came as the party marked the one-year anniversary of its
setting up a 10-member committee to represent the parliament that was never
convened.

The government views the committee as a direct challenge to its authority
and has branded it a blatant violation of the law.

Authorities set up checkpoints on the approaches to party headquarters early
Thursday, blocking traffic and refusing entry to diplomats and journalists.
Only party members were let in for Thursday's meeting.

``We strongly condemn any act by the authorities aimed at discrediting or
belittling the elected representatives,'' the party's 11-page statement
said.

More than 850 party members, including nearly 200 elected members of the
parliament that never was, were rounded up for questioning by military
authorities last year when the party was pressing its claims for parliament
to be convened.

Last month, the government said that 55 party members were still held. The
opposition claims that many were made to resign or sign disclaimers to
secure their release.