Bangkok :Myanmar court convicts Suu Kyi of vote fraud, adds jail timeThe latest verdict also carries potentially significant political consequences for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party by lending support to the government’s explicit threats to dissolve it before a new election the military has promised for 2023.Suu Kyi’s party won the 2020 general election in a landslide victory, but the army seized power the following February and kept her from a second five-year term in office.The army contends it acted because of alleged widespread fraud in the polls though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities.Some critics of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the takeover and is now Myanmar’s top leader, believe he acted because the vote thwarted his political ambitions.The military’s seizure prompted widespread peaceful protests that were quashed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that some UN experts now characterize as a civil war.Suu Kyi had already been sentenced to 17 years in prison on charges of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, violating coronavirus restrictions, sedition, and five counts of corruption.Many top members of her party and government also have been jailed, while others are in hiding or have fled abroad.Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say all the charges against her are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s seizure of power while keeping her from returning to politics.Friday’s ruling by the special court at the prison in the capital, Naypyitaw, was conveyed by a legal official who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities, who have restricted the release of information about Suu Kyi’s trials. He said all the defendants appeared in good health.