Summary of story from Voice of America, January 18, 2012

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has registered to run for a parliamentary seat in an upcoming by-election.

Suu Kyi is standing as a candidate to represent a district outside the main city of Rangoon.

Her National League for Democracy party (NLD) will contest the 48 parliamentary seats that are open in the April 1 vote.

Her decision to run for parliament is the latest evidence of democratic reforms since a new, nominally civilian government took power from a decades-long military junta last March, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners.

But even if the NLD wins all 48 seats in the by-election, it will not be enough to blunt the majority of the military-backed ruling party.