Aung San Suu Kyi makes election debut in Myanmar

Myanmar: Myanmar holds elections Sunday seen as a key test of the government's commitment to reforms, with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi standing for a seat in parliament for the first time. A victory for Suu Kyi would cap a remarkable transformation for the 66-year-old icon of the pro-democracy movement, who spent most of the past 22 years locked up by the generals who ruled the country for decades.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept to a landslide election victory in 1990 but the junta never recognised the result.

Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year, was not a candidate herself on that occasion because she was under house arrest.

Her party will contest 44 of the 45 seats at stake in Sunday's vote -- not enough to threaten the ruling party's majority, but a seat in parliament would give the opposition leader a chance to shape legislation for the first time.

Observers say the regime wants the pro-democracy leader to win a place in parliament to burnish its reform credentials and smooth the way for an easing of Western sanctions.

A 2010 vote, won by the military's political proxies, was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and the exclusion of Suu Kyi, who was released from seven straight years of house arrest shortly afterwards.

In the run up to this Sunday's by-elections, the NLD complained about irregularities, including alleged intimidation of candidates and the appearance of the names of some dead people on the electoral roll.

“I don't think we can consider it a genuinely free and fair election,” the democracy icon told a news conference on Friday.

She said the irregularities were “really beyond what is acceptable for a democratic election” but stopped short of announcing a boycott.

“We are determined to go forward because we think that this is what our people want,” Suu Kyi said.

A gruelling schedule of rallies and speeches has taken its toll on the health of the opposition leader, who cancelled campaigning this week after she fell ill and was put on a drip during a visit to the south.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win Saturday said Suu Kyi was “fine” as she travelled to her rural constituency of Kawhmu, about two hours drive from Yangon, where small groups of people gathered to cheer her arrival.

AFP