Myanmar opposition to hold first party congress
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YANGON (AFP) - The National League for Democracy (NLD), the opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi, said on Monday it would hold its first ever national congress on March 8 to 10, reflecting the dramatic political changes sweeping Myanmar.
"It will be the NLD's first nationwide conference held in democratic conditions since the party was founded (in 1988)," NLD lawmaker and party spokesman Ohn Kyaing told AFP. Around 1,500 delegates were expected to attend, he said.
The meeting, which will define the leadership of the opposition party as it sets its sights on crucial 2015 polls, was originally scheduled for the last week of February but was delayed.
The once-outlawed party entered Parliament for the first time last year, when landmark April by-elections gave Ms Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner, her first ever seat in the legislature.
