Suu Kyi's Myanmar opposition wins legal recognition

Myanmar authorities have allowed Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition to legally re-register, state media reported, clearing the way for the democracy champion's party to rejoin mainstream politics. The move, which is expected to see the Nobel laureate stand for a seat in parliament in by-elections early next year, follows a series of reformist moves by a new military-backed government dominated by former generals. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was stripped of its status as a legal political party by the junta last year after it chose to boycott a rare election, saying the rules were unfair. A brief announcement in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Tuesday said that the country's election commission had approved the NLD's application to re-register as a political party. The country formerly known as Burma has surprised even its critics over the past year, releasing Suu Kyi from years of house arrest, holding dialogue with the opposition and freeing some political prisoners. Suu Kyi has said she will take part in upcoming by-elections, although no date has been set. On Monday her party said it had chosen the image of a fighting peacock gazing at a white star as its new symbol, replacing its trademark bamboo hat, which was used by a breakaway group that participated in the 2010 election. Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 poll but was never allowed by the generals to take power. It refused to participate in the November 2010 vote -- the first in two decades -- mainly because of rules that would have forced it to expel imprisoned members. Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past two decades in detention, was under house arrest at the time and released just days after the polls.