End of the Junta Rule?

INTERNATIONAL \\ Burmese Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be running for Parliament in the country’s highly anticipated April by-elections. According to her party sources, the Nobel laureate will be contesting elections from her home district outside of Yanong. The civilian government has approved of her party — National League for Democracy’s (NLD) participation in the elections scheduled to take place on April 1, 2012. This marks the return of the her party into mainstream politics after two decades. For the first time in years, a pro-democracy leader will pursue political office. Her party had won a landslide victory in 1990, but the Junta government prevented her from assuming power. Living under house arrest from that time on, she only gained her freedom in 2010 as the Junta government agreed to parliamentary elections that year. The civilian government has also signed a cease-fire agreement with ethnic Karen rebels fighting the largest civil war in the country. It is hoped that the conciliatory gesture will improve Myanmar’s relations with the outside world.