Aung San Suu Kyi Allowed on Ballot in Myanmar

January 20, 2012 from LinkAsia

In another sign of increasing openness from the ruling junta, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be allowed to run in an April election. She will run under the banner of the formerly-banned National League for Democracy party. Footage from Reuters.

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Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi MP AC is a Burmese opposition politician and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Burma. In the 1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained under house ... Explore this topic

Myanmar

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia bordered by China, Thailand, India, Laos and Bangladesh. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Its population o... Explore this topic

National League for Democracy

The National League for Democracy is a Burmese political party founded on 27 September 1988. House Representative and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi serves as its General Secretary. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Burmese general ele... Explore this topic

Election

An election contest is an opportunity for constituents to vote for a political party or candidate for a governmental office or seat, or the ability to run for a governmental office or seat (as is the case with primaries). For more information, please see the Freebase wiki pag... Explore this topic

Yangon

Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region. Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most im... Explore this topic

Burmese language

The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as that of some ethnic minorities in Burma like the Mon. Burmese is spoken by 32 million as a first language and as a second ... Explore this topic

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, Literature. Since 1901, it has been awarded annually to those who... Explore this topic

Reuters

Reuters is an international news agency headquartered in London, United Kingdom and a division of Thomson Reuters. Until 2008, the Reuters news agency formed part of an independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data. Since the acquis... Explore this topic

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From Beijng to Tokyo, from Seoul to New Delhi and beyond, LinkAsia takes viewers into media about Asia -- from Asia -- offering unfiltered insight into one of the most diverse, fast-paced regions of the globe. Each week, LinkAsia brings you a unique half-hour program that co... Explore this topic

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Aung San Suu Kyi

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Sydnie Kohara:
In another sign of liberalization in Myanmar, the leader of the opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, is able to get on the ballot for a seat in parliament. In fact, she'll take part in a special by-election in April. A big crowd welcomed Suu Kyi as she arrived to register her candidacy. She'll be running under the banner of the National League for Democracy. It's a party that's been banned in Myanmar for 20 years. There are 48 seats up for grabs in the April vote. Now, allowing Suu Kyi to run is the latest in a string of gestures made by Myanmar's military-backed government. It's also released several hundred political prisoners and also signed a cease-fire with ethnic Karens. They'd been fighting for an independent state for decades.

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