Myanmar opposition leader registers party to contest polls

Dec 23, 2011

Yangon - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday registered her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to contest by-elections next year, officially rejoining the political fray.

She also visited parliament and met with Shwe Mann, the lower chamber's speaker.

Suu Kyi, released from her latest, seven-year term of house detention in November 2010, traveled the 350 kilometers from Yangon north to the capital, Naypyitaw, with NLD co-leader Tin Oo to register the party at the Union Election Commission, commission officials said.

The event was part of a softening by Myanmar's government, long a pariah of the West for its poor human rights record, including its 15 years of detention of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate after the NLD won 1990 elections that the then-ruling junta annulled.

Suu Kyi, 66, has vowed to contest by-elections for 48 parliamentary seats expected to be held in March or April.

Should she win a seat, Suu Kyi was expected to become Myanmar's official opposition leader in parliament.

Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 until this year when November 2010 elections, the first in 20 years, brought to power a pro-military government under President Thein Sein, a former general.

Despite his military background, Thein Sein has proved an unexpected catalyst of change in the politically stunted country.

In mid-August, he initiated a political dialogue with Suu Kyi, inviting her to Naypyitaw for private talks. Since then, Thein Sein has paved the way for Suu Kyi to re-enter Myanmar politics.

The NLD was dissolved as a legal entity last year after it refused to contest the general election on the grounds that the junta then ruling the country had issued party registration laws that would have forced them to drop Suu Kyi as a member of the party to participate.

Myanmar's parliament in November amended the party registration regulations, paving the way for the NLD to reregister.

The government also granted an amnesty to more than 200 political prisoners and was expected to free more next month.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1682505.php/LEAD-Myanmar-opposition-leader-registers-party-to-contest-polls.