Burma Abolishes Single-Party Rule : Embattled Regime Bows to Demands for Democracy, Agrees to Elections

Burma’s rulers on Saturday abruptly yielded to swelling popular demands for a multi-party democracy, signaling the end of 26 years of repressive, one-party government.

Scrambling to stay in the political game, President Maung Maung convened a special congress of his Burma Socialist Program Party two days ahead of schedule. Official Rangoon Radio said that the 968 delegates voted unanimously “to accept the multi-party system . . . and a multi-party general election will be held.”

No date was set for the election, but Maung Maung said it will be held as soon as possible.

Mistaken Policies

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he declared in his speech to the congress, acknowledging mistaken policies of the long-ruling, authoritarian party. “The weakness of the party was that it was born as a ruling party and grew up as one.”

The 63-year-old former jurist told party leaders that the interests of Burma’s 38 million people are paramount.

In six weeks of mounting anti-government protests that brought the country to the point of chaos, the Burmese people have demonstrated that their prime interest is in the abolition of one-party rule.

In his address, carried by Rangoon Radio on Saturday night in a delayed broadcast, the president called for a return to work by government employees who had walked off their jobs in support of the student-led protests. Ministries and other government offices have been crippled by the walkouts.

As demonstrators pushed against the barricades outside the Parliament building where the meeting was held, the ruling party scrapped Maung Maung’s original call for a national referendum on the issue.

The sudden move punctured opposition plans for massive demonstrations on Monday, when the party congress was originally scheduled to convene, and put anti-government political leaders temporarily on the defensive.

Retired Gen. Aung Gyi, whose scathing criticisms of ruling party policies fueled the street protests, said he doubts that “the prevailing situation will permit holding of general elections under the present government.”

Another rising opposition figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, called for immediate installation of an interim government, which is expected to be the rallying cry of the opposition now that an open political system has been accepted.

Although calling the ruling party decision “a positive step,” she declared: “Under the present economic and political situation, an interim government will be the best solution. It would deal with economic problems and also conduct general elections.”

Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma’s independence leader Aung San, insisted that it could take up to two years for the opposition to form viable political parties.

Rival ‘Government’ Split

Her concerns were underscored Saturday by the splintering of a rival “government” proclaimed just 24 hours earlier by U Nu, Burma’s first prime minister. In a letter to foreign embassies in Rangoon, U Nu declared that he remains the head of government under the constitution scrapped after Burmese strongman Ne Win’s coup d’etat in 1962. He called on foreign countries to recognize his government, named a cabinet and called for elections on Oct. 9.

But on Saturday, three members of U Nu’s cabinet list withdrew their names. Tin Oo, Aung Shwe and Saw Mying, all former military officers, reportedly had not been consulted by U Nu on their appointments. They also withdrew from U Nu’s newly formed opposition group, Alliance for Peace and Democracy.

With U Nu’s initiative already faltering, pressure against the ruling party is expected to be mounted by student-led demonstrators. On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters again marched through the streets of the Burmese capital. According to reports from Rangoon, their ranks included uniformed police.

Spearheaded by Buddhist monks and small children, the marchers defied military blockades and pushed to the barricades around the Parliament building, but no violence was reported.

In the northern city of Mandalay, meanwhile, student leaders reportedly declared they will start a hunger strike to force further government concessions on democracy.

Strikes continued in the capital, and a walkout of ground personnel at the international airport stalled further evacuations of foreign embassy dependents. On Friday, 237 dependents, including 46 Americans, were flown out on a special Thai International Airlines flight.

Two U.S. Air Force C-141 jet transports were standing by at Bangkok’s Don Muang International Airport for possible use in evacuations, but U.S. officials said that they favor using commercial flights. “In this situation, it wouldn’t look too good to send in military planes,” noted a diplomat of another Western embassy in Bangkok.

Ne Win, in submitting his resignation as chairman of the 3-million-member ruling party July 23, accepted part of the blame for the brutal suppression of anti-government demonstrations in March and in June. He also called on the party to endorse an open political system to replace his one-party rule, which over a quarter-century had dragged resource-rich Burma down to the ranks of the world’s poorest countries.

But party members, reportedly reluctant to give up the privileges they enjoyed in Burma’s sole ruling group, rejected the proposal and named Sein Lwin, a brutal enforcer of party policy, as the nation’s president and party chief. Sein Lwin’s rule lasted just 17 days, encompassing the bloody demonstrations of early August when soldiers fired into crowds of unarmed demonstrators, killing nearly 100 by government count and hundreds more by unofficial tallies.

Maung Maung succeeded Sein Lwin and fought a losing battle to ride out the demonstrations against his political timetable for a referendum and subsequent elections.

Through the six weeks of protests, lootings and killings, the country’s 180,000-man military has generally stood firm with the government.