미얀마 민주화 운동의 상징인 아웅산 수치 여사가 오는 11월로 예정된 총선거 유세를 시작했습니다.
수치 여사는 8일 자신이 이끄는 민족민주동맹 (NLD)의 ‘페이스북’ 동영상에서 수십 년 만에 처음으로 진정한 변화를 일으킬 기회를 갖게됐다며 이번 선거는 미얀마에 중대한 전환점이 될 것이라고 말했습니다.
수치 여사는 이어 자유롭고 공정한 선거를 치르는 게 얼마나 중요한지 세계가 이해해주길 바란다면서, 선거를 철저히 감시해 미얀마를 도와달라고 국제사회에 호소했습니다.
이번 총선거에는 미얀마에서 모두 90여 개의 정당이 참여합니다.
또 선거를 통해 구성된 새 의회에서 차기 대통령 선출이 이뤄지지만, 미얀마 현행 헌법에 따라 자녀들이 외국 국적을 가지고 있는 수치 여사는 대통령 후보 자격이 없습니다.
VOA 뉴스
Myanmar's Suu Kyi opens election campaign on Facebook
39 minutes ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Just five years ago, when Aung San Suu Kyi was still under house arrest, she commented that one day she hoped to get a Twitter account and chat with the outside world.
On Tuesday, the opposition leader kicked off campaigning for Myanmar's historic Nov. 8 general election with a Facebook post - one of many signs of how far the country and its most recognizable politician have come in a few years.
In a video message, Suu Kyi called the upcoming election "a crucial turning point for our country."
Suu Kyi, who enjoys huge public support, is barred from running for president because of a clause in the constitution that excludes people with foreign spouses or foreign children from the presidency. The clause is widely seen as custom-made for Suu Kyi, who is the widow of a British academic and has two sons with British nationality. But she is seeking re-election to parliament.
"For the first time in decades, our people will have a real chance of bringing about real change," Suu Kyi said in the message posted on her party's Facebook page in Burmese and English. "We hope that the whole world understands how important it is for us to have free and fair elections."
More than 90 political parties will take part in the parliamentary elections, which are being closely watched as the next step toward democracy in a country that was run by a repressive military junta for nearly half a century.
The polls will be the first since a nominally civilian government was installed in 2011. But with the military still firmly in control of the process, there is widespread speculation over whether the election will be free and fair.
The polls will also be the first time Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party has contested a general election in 25 years.
The NLD is expected to make large gains at the expense of the military-backed ruling party, and might even win a majority.
The last time the NLD took part in a national election was in 1990, when it won by a landslide. But the result was ignored by the military, which kept Suu Kyi locked away under house arrest for 15 years without phone lines or Internet and blocked virtually all contact with the outside world.
The party boycotted the next nationwide election in 2010 because Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was still under house arrest and barred from taking part. The 2010 polls were condemned by international observers for widespread irregularities. It was in 2010 that Suu Kyi commented through her lawyer that she wished to "sign up on Twitter" once she was released to "get in touch with the younger generation inside and outside the country."
A week after the 2010 election, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. Her party took part in 2012 by-elections, winning 43 of the 44 seats it contested - including Suu Kyi's first elected post as a member of parliament.
"We hope to take our country to that point where there can be no return from genuine development in the democratic direction," Suu Kyi said in the video message Tuesday. "Please help us by observing what happens before the elections, during the elections, and, crucially after the elections."