Suu Kyi party to register for Myanmar elections

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition is set to formalise its return to Myanmar's political arena on Friday, when it will apply to re-register as a political party, an official said. Party delegates from the National League for Democracy (NLD) travelled to the capital Naypyidaw on Thursday to hand in the party's registration papers, NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP. "We will go to the election commission office at 10:00am (0330 GMT) to register the party," he said, adding it would probably take at least a week until their application was confirmed. The NLD announced this month it would re-register as a political party and contest upcoming by-elections after boycotting last year's parliamentary poll -- paving the way for the 66-year-old democracy heroine to run for office. Party officials said last week Suu Kyi "intends to take part in the election" and Suu Kyi herself has hinted to party delegates that she would run. There are 48 parliamentary seats available but no polling dates have been set for by-elections. The NLD's decision to end its boycott of the political process came on the same day the military-dominated government received a dramatic seal of approval from the United States for a string of nascent reforms. After speaking directly to Nobel laureate Suu Kyi for the first time, in a call from Air Force One, US President Barack Obama said Hillary Clinton would next month become the first secretary of state to visit Myanmar for 50 years. The NLD won a landslide victory in polls in 1990 but the then-ruling junta never allowed the party to take power. Suu Kyi, although a figurehead for the campaign, was under house arrest at the time. Myanmar's next election was not held until November last year, and the NLD boycotted it -- mainly because of rules that would have forced it to expel imprisoned members. Suu Kyi was again under house arrest. Although the election was widely criticised as a sham, Myanmar's military rulers gave way to a nominally civilian administration which released Suu Kyi from years in detention and has since made a surprising series of conciliatory gestures. In developments Suu Kyi has described as "encouraging", it has passed a law giving workers the right to strike, stopped work on an unpopular dam and released about 200 political prisoners. Then last week, Myanmar won approval from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to chair the 10-nation bloc in 2014 -- despite some concerns