Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU)

[Photo Aung San Suu Kyi smiles as she leaves after visiting a polling station]

Photo Aung San Suu Kyi smiles as she leaves after visiting a polling station
YANGON: Supporters of Myanmar's opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi erupted in euphoric cheers on Sunday after her party said she won a parliamentary seat in a landmark election, setting the stage for her to take public office for the first time.

The victory, if confirmed, would mark a major milestone in the Southeast Asian nation, where the military has ruled almost exclusively for a half-century and where a new reform-minded government is seeking legitimacy and a lifting of Western sanctions.

It would also mark the biggest prize of Suu Kyi's political career, and a spectacular reversal of fortune for the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate who the former junta had kept imprisoned in her lakeside home for the better part of two decades.

The victory claim was displayed on a digital signboard above the opposition National League for Democracy's headquarters in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, where more than 1,000 supporters began wildly shouting upon learning the news.