“After more than 15 years in detention, Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won a seat in parliament, sparking scenes of jubilation among supporters. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party had not participated in Burma’s politics since 1990, when it won a landslide victory in a general election but remained unrecognized by the military junta. We speak with Suu Kyi’s biographer, Peter Popham, a reporter with The Independent of London, who himself has been deported from Burma and has met twice with Suu Kyi. “It would have been extraordinary if [Suu Kyi] had lost. But the scale of the victory, winning almost every single seat they contested, is a terrific endorsement of her stand during the campaign and also her incredible persistence and patience over all these years,” Popham says. As for the prospect of Suu Kyi mounting a bid for the Burmese presidency, Popham says, “I don’t think it’s beyond the bounds of possibility.””
Read the rush transcript on Democracy Now! site
Original article, “From Prison to Parliament: Burma Pro-Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Wins Seat in Landmark Vote,” written by Greg Popham and posted on Democracy Now! April 2, 2012.
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