THANLYIN, MYANMAR // Ecstatic cheers of "Long Live Aung San Suu Kyi!" echoed through the streets of an impoverished Yangon suburb yesterday as she registered for elections, a sign of how much Myanmar has changed since the junta gave up power after decades of harsh rule.
Throngs of flag-waving supporters crowded the local election office to shout support and glimpse the 66-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, who became Myanmar's most recognisable face during years of house arrest under authoritarian rule.
The scene would have been unthinkable while the junta still ruled. It despised Ms Suu Kyi because of her popularity and any public support for her was swiftly and firmly crushed.
The freedom allowed to Ms Suu Kyi's supporters is another sign the elected but military-backed government has kept promises for democratic reforms - a key condition of the West for lifting sanctions.
Since taking office in March, the government has released hundreds of prominent political prisoners, signed ceasefires with ethnic rebels, increased press freedoms and opened dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi herself.
Even if her political party wins all 48 seats to be contested in by-elections on April 1, it will have minimal power. The 440-seat lower house of parliament is heavily weighted with military appointees and allies of the former junta.
But a victory would give the longtime political prisoner a voice in parliament for the first time after decades as the opposition leader.
Ms Suu Kyi registered to run for a seat representing Kawhmu, a poor district south of Yangon where villagers' livelihoods were devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
The Election Commission must still accept Ms Suu Kyi's candidacy, a ruling expected to come next month. Her party has so far chosen 44 candidates to contest the 48 seats vacated by legislators who became Cabinet ministers.
Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but was denied power by the military.
Myanmar's next elections did not come for 20 years, but Ms Suu Kyi was under house arrest and her party boycotted due to what they called unfair and undemocratic rules.
Reforms since that election in 2010 have drawn Ms Suu Kyi and her party back into mainstream politics, won international praise and measured diplomatic support.
The United States is restoring diplomatic relations and sending an ambassador to Myanmar for the first time in two decades.
The severe international sanctions that restrict Myanmar's trade and the travel and financial transactions of the former junta's inner circle mostly remain, as countries monitor how the April vote is conducted and weigh other considerations.
