Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi to run for parliament in by-election
Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi talks during the press conference on the anniversary of her release at the National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters in Yangon, Myanmar.
Aung San Suu Kyi will run for Burma's parliament in a by-election, the pro-democracy leader said Friday.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has "unanimously" decided to re-register as a political party. The NLD boycotted last year's polls, the first in 20 years to be held in Burma, also called Myanmar, because Suu Kyi was banned from running.
Suu Kyi is now allowed to stand for office, and her party is planning to run for 48 vacants seats in parliament, BBC News reported. The by-elections have not yet been scheduled.
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"We unanimously decide that the National League for Democracy (NLD) will register according to party registration laws, and we will take part in the coming by-elections," a party statement said, according to BBC News.
Any party that registers itself is required to run for at least three seats in the still unscheduled byelections for the 48 vacant seats in parliament, and Aung San Suu Kyi said she was in favour of contesting all 48 seats. The legislature comprises 224 members in the upper house and 440 members in the lower.
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to visit Burma next month to discuss renewing dialogue with the country.
On Thursday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) awarded Burma the rotating chairmanship of the regional grouping in 2014.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win told the Associated Press that the party will file registration papers with Burma's Election Commission "as soon possible."
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