YANGON, Myanmar, March 31 (UPI) -- Democracy in Myanmar is getting its first test with a by-election to fill 45 empty seats in Parliament.
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, is one of the candidates on the ballot for Sunday's vote, CNN reported. At the time of the last election, in November 2010, the Nobel Peace Prize winner was still under house arrest and her political party was banned.
The NLD has competition from the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which was formed by the rulers of the country formerly known as Burma before the 2010 election. That election, in which former Gen. Thein Sein, now president, claimed more than 90 percent of the votes in his parliamentary district, was seen by most observers as a fraud.
Jim Della-Giacoma, a project director at International Crisis Group, said government leaders appear to have adapted to compete democratically.
"The USDP has shown it is able to recruit good candidates, local figures who are popular in their own right," he said. "They've got something to lose here so they're competing, like governments everywhere."
This time, Suu Kyi has been campaigning around the country for her party, greeted by enthusiastic supporters. But some people are still fearful of the future.
"I have more freedom to say what I think now, but Aung San Suu Kyi has to remain free and do more so we all have a better life than this," Din Dun Zayawin told CNN.
