WUNRN
MYANMAR/BURMA - SUU KYI CONFIRMS
CANDIDACY FOR PARLIAMENT
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, left, listens as Myanmar's
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi talks during a news conference at Suu
Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar Friday, Jan. 6, 2012. Photo: Apichart
Weerawong/The Associated Press
By Aye Aye Win - The Associated Press - January 10,
2012
Yangon
- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi confirmed that she will run for a
seat in parliament, her party said, a move that will infuse April by-elections
with legitimacy, star power and historic significance.
Ms.
Suu Kyi said last year that she would run for parliament but had appeared to
backtrack since then. A victory would give the Nobel Peace Prize winner and
longtime political prisoner a voice in parliament for the first time in her
decades-long role as the country's opposition leader.
She
was under house arrest during November 2010 elections, which were boycotted by
her National League for Democracy Party in part because she was barred from
participating. The elections, Myanmar's first in 20 years, replaced a ruling
military junta with a government that remains strongly linked to the military
but has taken steps toward easing decades of repression.
Ms.
Suu Kyi's decision to personally contest the April polls is the latest vote of
confidence for government reforms that include the legalization of labour
unions, increasing press freedom and opening a dialogue with Ms. Suu Kyi
herself.
Party
spokesman Nyan Win said Tuesday that Ms. Suu Kyi announced during a party
meeting on Monday that she would seek a parliamentary seat in the Yangon suburb
of Kawhmu. Yangon is Myanmar's largest city and Ms. Suu Kyi's hometown.
As
recently as last week, Ms. Suu Kyi declined to confirm whether she would
personally contest a seat, telling The Associated Press in an interview that
her decision would be announced later this month. She also expressed cautious
optimism about the government's reforms.
“I
think there are obstacles, and there are some dangers that we have to look out
for,” Ms. Suu Kyi said. “I am concerned about how much support there is in the
military for changes.”
Even
if Ms. Suu Kyi's party wins all 48 seats to be contested April 1, it will have
minimal power. Most of the seats were vacated by lawmakers who became Cabinet
ministers after the first parliamentary session last January.
The
military is guaranteed 110 seats in the 440-seat lower house and 56 seats in
the 224-seat upper house, and the main pro-military party holds 80 percent of
the remaining 498 elected seats.
Ms.
Suu Kyi's party won a sweeping victory in the 1990 general election but the
junta refused to honour the results. The military regime kept Ms. Suu Kyi under
house arrest on-and-off for 15 years, hoping to snuff out her popularity.
Despite never having held elected office, she became Myanmar's most recognizable
face and an icon for the country's pro-democracy movement.
Countries
that imposed sanctions on Myanmar under the previous military government have
taken at least tentative steps to improve relations. In November, Hillary
Rodham Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the country in
more than 50 years, and on Monday, Australia became the first country to ease
sanctions against Myanmar's ruling elite.