Reuters, Myaungmya :When Aung San Suu Kyi’s candidate emerges at a campaign rally in southern Myanmar, the crowd bursts into cheers and showers him with flowers, confident that the opposition will prevail this weekend after decades of struggle against military rulers.The scene in the town of Myaungmya, in the country’s rice-growing southern delta, is being repeated across the country as Myanmar prepares for a historic election on Sunday that is likely to be dominated by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party of the Nobel laureate.The country has no opinion polls, but other parties are clearly scrambling to match the size and enthusiasm of crowds at NLD rallies.On Sunday, Suu Kyi, 70, received a rapturous welcome from tens of thousands as she closed out a two-month campaign to take power in a country emerging from an isolated half-century of military rule.Decked in red, in a kilometres- (miles-) long traffic jam leading to the rally site in Yangon, teenagers danced on pickup trucks and sang: “The junta must leave! So go! Go! Go! Go!”For NLD supporters, the vote will be a historic chance to right past wrongs. The party won a landslide in 1990, which was annulled by the junta. Suu Kyi was by then already under house arrest, which was to last most of the next twenty years.She was freed in late 2010, a few months before the military handed power to a semi-civilian government led by ex-generals who launched political reforms that led to Myanmar emerging from decades of international isolation.In Myaungmya, Soe Moe Thu, a baby-faced doctor, is hoping to ride a wave of NLD support into the country’s lower house. At rallies in village fields and dusty roadsides, NLD supporters cloaked in the party’s fighting peacock logo mob him with handshakes and plastic flowers.Despite the euphoria around the NLD as elections approach, there are signs that all will not be smooth, even if the party comes to power. Internal dissent is one problem for the NLD, which is deeply divided despite the popularity of Suu Kyi.”He’s Aung San Suu Kyi’s pet,” Bo Phyu, the NLD’s local chief, told Reuters about Soe Moe Thu. “I was one of his top opponents.”If the NLD wins a majority, it will seek the presidency. Suu Kyi herself is barred from the job by the constitution, but she has said she will be the leader of the government.That could lead to a dysfunctional leadership. And the military, which has a reserved 25 percent of the seats in parliament, is not going away.The current ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is made up of influential former generals and businessmen who made their wealth through ties with the former junta. Radical Buddhist monks, who are gaining influence in Myanmar, have called on their followers not to vote for Suu Kyi, essentially allying with the USDP.The NLD itself, with little experience in power, may struggle to make the transition from political struggle to governance.
