Aung San Suu Kyi has called on voters to change the leadership of the country and back her National League for Democracy (NLD) in upcoming elections amid a row over candidate selection that has threatened party unity RFA reported on 10 August.
The Nobel laureate dismissed concerns over a list of 1,090 candidates endorsed by the NLD’s central executive committee (CEC) and released in early August which, in many cases, differed from those nominated by township and divisional party branches.
Local party officials have voiced their opposition to the CEC’s candidate list, and following a closed-door meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD’s Magwe leadership in nearby Minbu earlier on Sunday, the divisional joint secretary reportedly resigned.
On Monday, local NLD members continued to speak out against the CEC’s selection of candidates, with nearly 100 people from more than 50 villages holding a protest in Hlegu, a town on the outskirts of the commercial capital Yangon.
NLD party organizer Hla Gyi told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the demonstration was part of a bid to show supporters that local party members still have their interests in mind.
The protest followed one on Friday last week by more than 300 people, including NLD members, in Magwe’s Pakokku who spoke out against the party’s selection of four local candidates demonstrators said were not supported by the local NLD township committee.
