Parliament run for Myanmar opposition head
Source: Agencies |
January 30, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MYANMAR opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called yesterday for changes to the military-drafted constitution in her first political trip since ending a boycott of the country's political system last year and announcing plans to run for parliament.
Thousands of people lined the roads shouting "Long live mother Suu" as her motorcade moved through the rural coastal region of Dawei about 615km south of her home city Yangon, the main business center.
The trip was only her fourth outside Yangon since her release from years of house arrest in November 2010.
"There are certain laws which are obstacles to the freedom of the people and we will strive to abolish these laws within the framework of the parliament," Suu Kyi said to cheers from supporters after meeting officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Dawei.
The NLD, though well known in the country, has had limited real political experience. It won by a landslide a 1990 election, a year after Suu Kyi began a lengthy period of incarceration, but the then government ignored the result and detained many party members and supporters.
The NLD boycotted the next election, held in 2010 and won by a military-backed party after opposition complaints of rigging.
Her address yesterday offered the most extensive detail yet of the policies she would bring to parliament.
In particular, she said she wanted to revise a 2008 army-drafted constitution that gives the military wide-ranging powers, including the ability to appoint key cabinet members, take control of the country in a state of emergency and occupy a quarter of the seats in parliament.
Thousands of people lined the roads shouting "Long live mother Suu" as her motorcade moved through the rural coastal region of Dawei about 615km south of her home city Yangon, the main business center.
The trip was only her fourth outside Yangon since her release from years of house arrest in November 2010.
"There are certain laws which are obstacles to the freedom of the people and we will strive to abolish these laws within the framework of the parliament," Suu Kyi said to cheers from supporters after meeting officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Dawei.
The NLD, though well known in the country, has had limited real political experience. It won by a landslide a 1990 election, a year after Suu Kyi began a lengthy period of incarceration, but the then government ignored the result and detained many party members and supporters.
The NLD boycotted the next election, held in 2010 and won by a military-backed party after opposition complaints of rigging.
Her address yesterday offered the most extensive detail yet of the policies she would bring to parliament.
In particular, she said she wanted to revise a 2008 army-drafted constitution that gives the military wide-ranging powers, including the ability to appoint key cabinet members, take control of the country in a state of emergency and occupy a quarter of the seats in parliament.
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