Parliament Sets Target Date for Multi-Party Elections in Burma
The Burmese Parliament yielded Sunday to weeks of nationwide protests and approved holding the first multi-party elections since 1960.
The legislature appointed a panel to supervise the polling and set a target date for about three months from Saturday, when President Maung Maung has announced that the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party would relinquish its 26-year monopoly on power.
Despite government concessions, opposition leaders continued to press for an interim government, and demonstrations continued in the capital.
Maung Maung issued a stern warning to demonstrators, who since spring have taken to the streets by the millions in their fight for democracy.
“People are now fed up with this lawlessness and are expecting the government to take effective action,” Maung Maung said. “I therefore warn those responsible . . . to cease such activities.”
He called on demonstrators to get back to work and on civil servants to reactivate the stalled machinery of government. In addition, he attacked the recent formation of a rival government by former Prime Minister U Nu.
Maung Maung called Sunday’s decision by Parliament “a milestone in Burmese history.”
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