Burma: Official date set for Suu Kyi’s entry to parliament
The leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi walks out of her party headquarters on Apr. 7, 2012.
The leader of Burma's opposition National League for Democracy and pro-democracy icon will take her seat in parliament for the first time on Apr. 23.
AFP quotes the NLD spokesman Nyan Win as saying that the Nobel laureate would travel to the capital Naypyidaw by Apr. 22 to attend a new session of the lower house the following day.
Earlier this month the NLD won 43 of the 44 seats contested in the Apr. 1 by-elections, CNN explains. The other seat was claimed by the Shan Party.
More from GlobalPost: Myanmar election brings new hope and same old worries
However, it adds that control of parliament will not change because more than 80% of the 664 seats are still held by members of the military-backed ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
Despite this, the Australian Broadcasting Corporations says that election to political office marks the latest "sweeping change" in the country, which had been ruled by the military junta until last year.
More from GlobalPost: The changing face of Burma
It describes how Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 22 years in detention, and that although she earned a landslide victory in 1990 elections, the result was never recognized by the junta.
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