Suu Kyi Hits The Campaign Trail In Myanmar

Published February 7, 2012 5:00AM (EST)

PATHEIN, Myanmar (AP) — Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is hitting the campaign trail as an official candidate and traveling to the Irrawaddy delta for the first time in two decades.

Cheering crowds greeted her convoy at every major town and city Tuesday as she drove four hours south from Yangon to an area that was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Suu Kyi is running for a seat representing a poor district south of Yangon in a key parliamentary by-election to be held in April. She has embarked on a nationwide campaign to lobby support for other members of her opposition National League for Democracy party.

Suu Kyi's return to politics is another test of the reforms of the new nominally civilian government that took power last year after decades of military control.


By Salon Staff

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