Suu Kyi on campaign trip for Myanmar elections

Myanmar: Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was to travel outside Yangon on the campaign trail yesterday with a visit to a southern city to promote her party ahead of April's by-elections. Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, who is standing for office in the polls after spending much of the past two decades in detention, was expected to be greeted by large crowds on her one-day visit to the coastal district of Dawei.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party is running for all 48 seats up for grabs in the by-elections and she is standing in a rural constituency near Yangon, but Sunday's trip is in support of NLD candidate Aung Soe.

"We have requested many times for Daw Suu to campaign for our region," he told AFP. Daw is a term of respect in Myanmar.

"She hasn't been here for 23 years. The people of Dawei are looking forward to it very much," said Aung Soe, who is standing in a local township.

Suu Kyi has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest and the NLD was stripped of its status as a legal political party after boycotting a national election in 2010, saying the rules were unfair.

The 66-year-old was released a few days after the poll and the new quasi-civilian government has since given her approval to return to the official political arena, against the backdrop of a dramatic reform programme.

The NLD won an election in 1990 by a landslide while Suu Kyi remained under house arrest, but the ruling generals never allowed the party to take power.

AFP