Landmark Congress appoints Suu Kyi Myanmar opposition leader

Aung San Suu Kyi was re-elected as Myanmar opposition leader at a landmark congress Sunday, March 10. Hundreds of opposition members gathered in Yangon for their first national conference — a display of political muscle that would have been unthinkable under the junta that jailed Suu Kyi for decades. The meeting highlights the challenges facing Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) including its lack of experience and it’s ageing ranks. But the party held back from a substantial revamp of its leadership, instead selecting older veteran party members to a core executive of 15 and unanimously reappointing Suu Kyi as chairwoman. “We have to seize the chance,” Suu Kyi urged the party as it gears up for what is expected to be a major victory if the 2015 vote is free and fair. The NLD faces the financial and political might of President Thein Sein’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), created by former generals who shed their uniforms to run for office in controversial elections held in 2010.

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