Myanmar has set November 8 as the date for a landmark general election, the country’s election commission said. The vote will be the first to be held under the country’s military-backed, quasi-civilian government, which has been pushing through expansive political and economic reforms since 2011, bringing the country out of decades of authoritarian rule and international isolation. It is expected to be the freest, fairest vote seen in the country, also known as Burma, since 1990, when the first multi-party election in decades was held. That election was won convincingly by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), but the country’s ruling military junta refused to recognize the results.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Suu Kyi — a national hero who spent nearly 15 years she spent under house arrest — is overwhelmingly her country’s most popular politician.
But under the country’s military-drafted constitution, she is barred from the presidency, due to a rule prohibiting anyone with foreign family members from assuming top office. Suu Kyi’s late husband was British, and her two sons have British passports.
Last month, parliamentarians voted down a motion to remove the clause barring Suu Kyi. “The NLD will contest the election but the prospect of (Suu Kyi) becoming the president is almost zero,” Aung Zaw, editor of influential Burmese news magazine The Irrawaddy told CNN.
Full Article: Myanmar elections in November: What’s at stake? – CNN.com.