Myanmar junta allows Suu Kyi's party to reopen branch offices+

YANGON, March 10 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Myanmar's ruling junta on Wednesday issued permission for detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's party to reopen its branch offices, a party spokesman said.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy has opened its 35 township branch offices in Yangon, according to an official source.

"Authorities have reopened party branch offices in Yangon and in other districts across the country this evening," the spokesman said.

The action by the junta followed its decision earlier Wednesday to disqualify Suu Kyi from participating in upcoming national elections.

The new political parties registration law, announced in state-run newspapers Wednesday, barred electoral participation by members of a political party if they have been convicted in court.

The ruling military closed down all offices of Suu Kyi's NLD in May following a deadly clash between her followers and the pro-junta mob in central Myanmar.

The junta allowed the party's head office in Yangon to operate in April 2004. But it had continued to close other branch offices across the country.

The NLD had been persistently calling for the reopening of its branch offices in the past years while seeking an early release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

Source :http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9EBT9JG1&show_article=1