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TOKYO: Some 250 protesters rallied in Tokyo on Wednesday to call for a boycott of next month's election in Myanmar, decrying it as a sham for excluding the biggest opposition party. Demonstrators, mostly Myanmar nationals, marched through central Tokyo ahead of the November 7 vote, carrying banners, one of which read: "We can't accept the unlawful 2010 election. Boycott sham elections." "It is important not only for people in Burma (Myanmar) but also people outside the country to unify our voice to protest the election," said Kyaw Kyaw Soe, 47, chairman of League for Democracy in Burma, based in Japan. "We also call on Japan to review its dialogue-based policies, which have yet to produce any fruitful results for years," he said, adding that Tokyo at least should not accept the results of the poll. Japan has long maintained trade and dialogue with Myanmar, warning a hard line against the military junta could push it closer to neighbouring China. The centre-left Democratic Party of Japan took power last year by ending the conservative Liberal Democrats' half century of near unbroken rule last year, but has not reversed Tokyo's conciliatory stance toward Myanmar. Western nations have said the vote will not be credible unless detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition figures are freed.
