Suu Kyi registers to stand in election

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, cheered by supporters, filed papers Wednesday to contest for a parliamentary seat in the April by-elections. She was cheered and given flowers by her supporters, CNN reported. The BBC reported by the by-elections are being seen as a major test of the new government's commitment to reforms. Suu Kyi's will contest from the township of Kawhmu on the edge of the former capital of Yangon, formerly called Rangoon, Mizzima News reported. A spokesman for Suu Kyi's party National League of Democracy had earlier confirmed her candidacy in the April 1 elections. Suu Kyi's election effort comes after being released in November 2010 from long years of house arrest and marks yet another reform by the new military-backed civilian government that came to power after the 2010 elections. Until then, Myanmar, formerly called Burma, had been under decades of brutal military rule. The new government last week also announced a cease-fire with the ethnic Karen rebels and also released more than 600 prisoners that included several prominent prisoners of conscience. The reforms have been welcomed by Western countries including the United States and more such actions by the government would lead to exchange of ambassadors with the United States and a review of U.S. sanctions against the country, U.S. officials have said. Forty-eight seats will be up for elections in April and Mizzima News said even if Suu Kyi and other candidates from her party or other opposition parties were to win all of them, it would not make a difference as the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party of President Thein Sein has a huge majority in the 664-seat upper and lower houses of parliament. However, the report said Suu Kyi's NLD is likely to become the main opposition party and other smaller parties may join it and with a seat in parliament, Suu Kyi is expected to become even a more prominent leader in her country.