Suu Kyi registers for general elections in Myanmar

Hundreds of cheering supporters gathered in the township of Thanlyin, a two-hour drive from Yangon, as Suu Kyi formally registered her intention to stand again for the rural constituency of Kawhmu in November polls.

The veteran activist, the first candidate confirmed by the National League for Democracy (NLD), was thronged by singing and flag-waving activists but did not address the crowd. Candidates cannot begin campaigning until election officials give the green light, NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.

“Everyone is waiting for that,” he said. In contrast to the jovial atmosphere in Thanlyin, Suu Kyi’s main political opponents in Yangon revealed signs of creeping pessimism as tensions mount between the leader of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the powerful army.

The USDP, the semi-civilian reincarnation of the previous junta which is packed with former soldiers, won a landslide in dubious 2010 elections when it ran virtually unopposed. Suu Kyi remained under house arrest at the time and her party boycotted the vote.

But the ruling party has already started to manage expectations about its fate at the upcoming polls.

“We don’t expect a winning result like in 2010. It’s impossible,” USDP general secretary <g data-gr-id="23">Maung Maung</g> Thein told reporters at an event announcing Yangon regional candidates.

Relations have soured dramatically between the <g data-gr-id="22">still powerful</g> army and the party’s influential leader and parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, who is widely considered a presidential hopeful.