Suu Kyi's party to run in polls

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday said her party would contest a national election in November, ending months of uncertainty about its participation in a vote that will be crucial for the scope of the country's reforms.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has laid the groundwork for running in the Nov 8 parliamentary poll, but her National League for Democracy (NLD) had held out until now to commit to a ballot that is being billed as Myanmar's first legitimate election in 25 years.

"This decision to run in the election was made to continue the unfinished democratisation process for the country," Suu Kyi told a news conference in the capital Naypyitaw.

Suu Kyi's own presidential aspirations are curtailed by a clause in the constitution that bars individuals with children holding foreign citizenship from becoming head of state. She vowed that the party would amend the constitution if it wins.

The NLD won Myanmar's last free and fair election in 1990 in a landslide, but the result was ignored by the then ruling military, which ceded power in 2011.

The NLD boycotted a 2010 poll held under military rule.

Suu Kyi was under house arrest at the time of 2010 vote, but was released six days later. The NLD eventually agreed to join the quasi-civilian system in 2012, winning 42 house seats in a by-election. Suu Kyi will run in the constituency of Kawhmu, a delta town outside the biggest city Yangon.