NAY PYI DAW — Aung San Suu Kyi confirmed on Saturday that her opposition National League for Democracy would participate in a historic general election in Myanmar set for Nov 8, the first to be contested by the party in a quarter of a century.
"We have decided to take part in the election," Aung San Suu Kyi told reporters at a press conference at her residence in the capital Nay Pyi Daw, vowing the party would "amend the constitution" that bars her from the presidency if it wins the polls.
"We will contest the election to continue implementing the democratic transition that has yet to be achieved," she said.
"If the NLD wins the election, national reconciliation will be the first priority. To make a country develop, stability in politics, the economy and in various sectors are very important. If the NLD runs the government, we will prioritise this."
The Nobel Peace Prize winner met senior party members in the capital earlier in the day to discuss the party's participation. There had been some speculation that the NLD would stay on the sidelines after failing to have the constitution amended.
The NLD is tipped to make huge gains at the ballot box if the vote is free and fair. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is dominated by military officers and civil servants who retired to become candidates, will be the NLD's biggest opponent.
The opposition party in recent days has been urging citizens to check official voters' lists, raising concerns that the lists displayed across the country are riddled with inaccuracies.
Poll officials insist there is time to iron out the flaws while President Thein Sein on Thursday reaffirmed his vow to hold a "free and fair" election.
Last month the NLD was defeated in a crucial parliamentary vote aimed at ending the military's effective veto on constitutional change — the first hurdle in a campaign to amend a clause barring those with a foreign spouse or children from becoming president. Suu Kyi's sons are British.
But despite the loss Aung San Suu Kyi vowed not to "back down" from the election.
The NLD won nationwide polls in 1990 by a landslide, while its leader was under house arrest. But it was prevented from taking power by the military, who had plunged the country into decades of isolation.
The democracy icon spent 15 years under house arrest and was also locked up during the last general election in 2010, which was boycotted by the NLD and marred by accusations of cheating.
But Aung San Suu Kyi and 44 of her party members now sit in parliament after a 2012 byelection held as part of sweeping reforms under a quasi-civilian government following the end of outright military rule in 2011.