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The detained leader of Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi, and her deputy, Tin Oo, will be released this year, the Burmese Minister for Home Affairs Maj-Gen Maung Oo reportedly told local officials in Kyaukpadaung Township last week.

According to a Reuters report, Maung Oo made the statement on Jan. 21 at a gathering of local officials in the central Burmese town.

“We heard that Daw Suu will be released in November this year and U Tin Oo on Feb. 13,” said NLD spokesman Khin Maung Swe. “Maung Oo also said that the NLD is not so bad and should be listened to.”

“We welcome the news. But this is not politically significant since the elections would already be finished when Aung San Suu Kyi is released,” said Win Tin, an NLD leader, adding that if Suu Kyi is not released until after the elections, the chances are lowered of the NLD participating in the current political process.

According to sources in Kyaukpaduang Towship in Mandalay Division, Maung Oo said at the meeting that the election will be free and fair and that polls will not be rigged.

Both Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, the deputy chairman of the NLD, are currently under house arrest. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi had her house arrest extended in August for briefly sheltering an American citizen who swan uninvited to her lakeside home in Rangoon.

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