Myanmar opposition leader barred from elections

Singapore: Nobel Peace Prize winning Myanmar opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has been barred from taking part in the country's proposed 2010 elections, because of her marriage to a foreigner, the Straits Times reported on Wednesday.

Myanmar's foreign minister made the announcement at a regional meeting on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi's marriage to Briton, Michael Aris, who died in 1999 makes her ineligible to participate in the elections according to the new constitution, the newspaper added.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) told Myanmar's representative, Nyan Win, that the move was "not in keeping with the times".

Myanmar last elections in 1990 were ignored by the country's military leaders when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide.