Aung San Suu Kyi To Run For Burma Parliament
By VOA
A spokesman for Burma democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she will run for a seat in parliament in the country’s next by-election, expected by the end of the year.
Nyan Win, a member of the National League for Democracy’s executive committee, told reporters Monday the Nobel Peace laureate will run for one of the 48 seats available in Burma’s new Senate, but has not yet decided which district she will represent.
The democracy activist hinted that she would run for office at a meeting of party delegates Friday, when they decided to re-register as a political party and take part in elections.
The NLD boycotted elections last year because of a law that prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from competing. The government recently repealed that law.
This will be the first time Aung San Suu Kyi has competed for a seat. Her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in Burma’s 1990 general election. However, she was under house arrest by the time the elections took place.
Burma’s then-military government ignored the election results and placed Suu Kyi under a lengthy house arrest. She has spent 15 of the past 22 years in some form of detention.
