Burma: Suu Kyi falls ill, cancels campaign travel

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi today canceled all travel during the final week of her by-election campaign – after falling ill, Agence France Presse reported.

Her party, the National League for Democracy, says Suu Kyi will not travel outside the main city of Rangoon in the lead up to the April 1 polls.

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The Nobel laureate’s doctor Tin Myo Win, said Suu Kyi was put on a drip Saturday, after vomiting when her boat got stuck on a sandbank for several hours. She had been on her way to the southern town of Myeik, where she was due to give a speech.

Myo Win said Suu Kyi’s health had later deteriorated, and her blood pressure was low. "She is exhausted because of being on the boat for such a long time," he told AFP.

President Thein Sein has called for “free, fair and clean” by-elections, local media reported.

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Speaking on Saturday while attending the opening of a bridge in Pathein in the Irrawaddy Delta, Thein Sein said:

“This coming by-election is a first-ever election which will be held by the new government and the world will be watching us … All political parties must accept the people's decision, whether win or lose.”

Suu Kyi is expected to win a seat at the polls and become the opposition leader in parliament, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

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