Suu Kyi's party doubtful of big win in Myanmar election

 Published on Mar 13, 2012  ... 

 

Aung Suu Kyi (above) is leading the NLD, which is fielding candidates in all but one of the 48 seats contested on April 1, is facing a number of challenges. These include candidates with low recognition, an inexperienced and still-fearful electorate, and a well-funded incumbent whom the NLD alleges is playing dirty. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

(REUTERS) - Ms Cho Cho May knows who she will vote for in April's Myanmar by-elections: the candidate for the party created by the former military junta.

'No need to ask me that question,' she says. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidate is her boss.

Finding another USDP supporter elsewhere in this normally sleepy river town is harder. When Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who leads the rival National League for Democracy (NLD), is on a two-day campaign tour of the region, Mawlamyaing's streets throng with people waving NLD flags and shouting 'Long live Mother Suu!'.

Watch Ms Suu Kyi's huge convoy go past - it includes a truck just to carry the flowers that people give her - and you wonder how anyone could beat her party at the polls.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_776753.html