Former members of Suu Kyi's NLD to form new Myanmar party

"We made the decision to form a political party. We have to wait for the response of former NLD members from the other states but I hope we will register some time this month," Khin Maung Swe told AFP.

Khin Maung Swe, a former NLD spokesman and member of its decision-making central executive committee (CEC), said the new party has not been named and it was not yet decided whether to take part in the polls scheduled for this year.

"The NLD is finished but we will continue the NLD's unfinished political duty by keeping our faith with the NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, although we were not assigned by anyone."
The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which will be the first in Myanmar in 20 years.

Analysts say there has been friction between the older, hardline members and younger more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision. Nyan Win, the former spokesman of the NLD, urged the new party to respect the decision not to take part in the elections, which critics say are a sham designed to legitimise the junta's half-century grip on power.