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Aung San Suu Kyi (C), Burmese democracy icon, attends a ceremony in Yangon on Jan. 9, 2012. (Win/AFP/Getty Images)
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday registered to run in a parliamentary election in three months, according to media reports.
“Aung San Suu Kyi was the first member of the NLD to register. She’s going to run for the Lower House,” Win Htein, a senior National League for Democracy official told The Australian newspaper.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was detained by the former ruling military junta for a total of about 15 years, will run in the April 1 elections for a seat in Kawhmu, near the main city of Yangon.
The 66-year-old is head of the NLD, which has candidates running in all 48 vacant seats available in a by-election mainly for the country’s Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament. Two of the open seats are for regional assemblies.
Another high-profile Burmese to announce his candidacy is famous hip hop singer Zayar Thaw, 32, reported The Irrawaddy.
Most of the 440-seat legislative body is comprised by ex-military leaders and allies who served in the country’s military junta.
The country made a transfer to power last March, when the military government switched over to civilian rule, electing President Thein Sein, himself a former general.
Burma (also known as Myanmar) has made a number of reforms, including establishing a dialogue with Suu Kyi’s party, releasing many prominent political prisoners, and coming to a ceasefire agreement with separatist rebels.
