Myanmar's election campaign began Tuesday with Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains widely admired and respected at home despite her tarnished image abroad, hoping for a landslide win to further cement her status as the country's civilian leader.The Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy (NLD) swept to power in 2015 - the first national polls since the Southeast Asian nation emerged from decades of junta rule.Despite the coronavirus threat, campaigns are, for now, under way -

Almost a million Rohingya refugees stuck in Bangladesh marked three years since escaping from Myanmar on Tuesday, with coronavirus forcing them to hold a day-long "silent protest" inside their flimsy, leaky huts.An August 2017 military operation that has triggered genocide charges at the United Nation's (UN) top court drove 750,000 Rohingya out of Myanmar's Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh, to join 200,000 who fled earlier.Three years later, and with no work or d

In late 2020, Myanmar will hold its general election for more than 1,000 seats in its legislative bodies. The lead-up to the elections overlaps with the 21st Century Panglong peace process and the possible repatriating of Rohingya refugees in ways that will only deepen social tensions. Myanmar's history of elections has seen large parties favoured over smaller ones and independent candidates.

Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party took power following a landslide victory in 2015, after five decades of both, direct and indirect military rule. Suu Kyi, however, could not be named president due to Article 59(f) of the constitution, which bars a person from becoming president if his or her spouse or children are foreign citizens.

Myanmar's military on Tuesday quashed proposals in parliament that would mean its MPs relinquish power, in a vote pitting the armed forces in open opposition against Aung San Suu Kyi as elections loom. The vote was the climax of a year of fierce debates between MPs as the civilian government attempted to reform the constitution and reduce the military's stranglehold on parliament.The country is gearing up to polls likely to be held later this year, only the second since out

A Myanmar-appointed panel concluded Monday that some soldiers likely committed war crimes against its Rohingya Muslim community but the military was not guilty of genocide, findings swiftly condemned by rights groups.The "Independent Commission Of Enquiry (ICOE)" released the results of its probe just ahead of a ruling Thursday by the United Nations’ (UN) top court on whether to impose urgent measures to stop alleged ongoing genocide in Myanmar.It conceded some security personnel ha

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to usher in a "new era" of ties with Myanmar after a red-carpet welcome Friday on a state visit aimed at buttressing the embattled government of Aung San Suu Kyi and driving through multi-billion-dollar infrastructure deals. Myanmar fighter jets escorted Xi's plane as it touched down in Naypyidaw where children presented him with flowers, according to China's official Xinhua news agency, as he was whisked off to a greeting party.

Myanmar is gearing up for elections this year.

Myanmar leader, Aung San Suu Kyi made a rare trip to a region bordering China days before President Xi Jinping is expected to push for controversial port and dam projects during a visit to the country.Wearing traditional ethnic attire, Suu Kyi danced with a street procession on Friday in northern Kachin state's capital Myitkyina, a day after supporters cheered her arrival at the airport.She urged a crowd of thousands to "focus on the present" and called for peace in the remote

Three small explosions went off in a southern Rakhine town in Myanmar Thursday just before civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi landed there in a rare visit to the conflict-ridden state, a local official said.The blasts happened in the normally quiet town of Manaung on an island off Myanmar's western coast where Suu Kyi was due to open a solar power plant."There were three explosions, but no casualties," Win Myint, spokesperson for Rakhine's regional government, told the media