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Suu Kyi’s party to register for polls
Myanmar’s main opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi onnFriday decided to rejoin politics and register for future elections, signaling its confidence in recent reforms by the military-aligned Government.
The National League for Democracy party “has unanimously decided to reregister as a political party ... and will run in the elections,” it said in a statement issued at the end of a meeting of senior members from across the country.
Some joyous members broke into a dance as the announcement was made.
“What we are doing now involves a lot of risk but it is time to take the risk because in politics there is no 100 per cent assurance of success,” Suu Kyi told them.
Earlier, member after member, including Suu Kyi, spoke out in favor of joining the political arena because of reforms initiated by the nominally civilian but military-aligned government, which have drawn cautious approval from even its most bitter critic, the United States.
President Barack Obama announced Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would visit early next month — the first such trip in more than a half-century — after what he said were “flickers of progress” in Myanmar.
The NLD refused to register last year because of a restriction that would have prevented Suu Kyi from running. The restriction was lifted this year by the new government that took office following the November 2010 elections held by the long-ruling military junta as part of its promise to restore democracy and relinquish power.
“Personally I am for re-registration,” Suu Kyi said in her speech to the delegates at the party headquarters in Yangon.
Any party that registers itself is required to run for at least three seats in the still-unscheduled by-elections for 48 vacant seats in Parliament. The legislature comprises 224 members in the upper house and 440 members in the lower house.
“Instead of participating in three seats in the by-elections, I would prefer to take part in all seats,” Suu Kyi said. It would be the first electoral test of the NLD’s popularity — and that of Suu Kyi — in more than two decades.
It is likely that Suu Kyi would run for office, said NLD spokesman Nyan Win. He said the party will file registration papers with the Election Commission in the capital, Naypyitaw, “as soon as possible.”
“Some party members are concerned that my dignity will be affected if I run for the election,” Suu Kyi told her colleagues. “If one is engaged in politics, one has to do what is necessary. If I feel that I should take part in elections, I will participate.”
She cautioned that “the road ahead is full of difficulties and the road to democracy is endless.”
