Myanmar's Suu Kyi campaigns for parliament

Thousands of cheering supporters swarmed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the democracy icon took her historic campaign for a parliament seat to the southern constituency she hopes to represent for the first time.

Supporters waving her political party's flag came out in force Saturday to get a glimpse of the 66-year-old Nobel Peace laureate as her convoy crawled from the main city Yangon to Kawhmu, a poor, rural district to the south.

Suu Kyi is running in an April 1 by-election that is being held to fill 48 parliamentary seats vacated by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet or other posts last year.

The vote is widely seen as a test of the new government's commitment to reform after nearly half a century of iron-fisted military rule.

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