The last time Myanmar held a nationwide election, Aung San Suu Kyi languished under house arrest while her party's landslide win was simply ignored by the country's brutal military rulers. Twenty-five years later, the democracy champion is free to hit the road, criss-crossing the nation and drawing large, jubilant crowds in an attempt to clinch what observers are hoping will be Myanmar's fairest vote in decades. For Suu Kyi, the November 8 polls are a watershed moment in a life entwined with the turbulent political struggles of her homeland, shaped by decades of brutal junta rule that only began to ease in 2011.
The daughter of independence hero General Aung San, Suu Kyi, 70, has headed non-violent opposition to the country's military rulers in a three decade role that has come at great personal cost. Detractors say her reputation as a human rights icon has diminished in recent years as she plunged herself into Myanmar's febrile politics, often choosing hard pragmatism over the idealism of her house arrest years. But the Nobel Peace Prize winner still commands huge loyalty among supporters of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party and she remains a magnetic force for those wanting to see Myanmar shake off its military past.
But Suu Kyi has been here before and knows well that an election victory does not guarantee power in Myanmar. Prior to her first stint of house arrest in July 1989, Suu Kyi spent months on a tiring -- and often personally dangerous -- campaign trail. The NLD's landslide victory the following year was dismissed by a junta that then jailed many of Suu Kyi's allies and kept her confined to her lakeside Yangon home for much of the next two decades.
Myanmar has since morphed from a hermit state into a booming economy open for business since the military ceded power to a quasi-civilian reformist government in 2011. "But two big factors that haven't changed are the charismatic bonanza enjoyed by Aung San Suu Kyi and the enduring grip of the military elite," Nicholas Farrelly, director of the Myanmar Research Centre at the Australian National University, stated. "For many Myanmar voters she is the defining figure of their country's anti-authoritarian struggle. They imagine that the democratic destiny halted in the 1990s is now in reach."
Suu Kyi was born on June 19, 1945 in Japanese-occupied Rangoon -- now called Yangon -- during the closing stages of World War II. Her father Aung San fought for and against both the British and the Japanese colonisers as he jostled to give his country the best shot at independence. That goal was achieved in 1948 but Aung San was assassinated alongside most of his cabinet just months before.
Suu Kyi spent most of her early years outside of Myanmar, first in India after her mother was posted as ambassador there and later at Oxford University where she met her British husband. After General Ne Win seized full power in 1962 he forced his own brand of socialism on Myanmar, turning it from Asia's rice bowl into one of the world's poorest and most isolated countries. Suu Kyi's elevation into a democracy champion happened almost by accident after she returned in 1988 to nurse her sick mother. Soon afterwards protests erupted against the military, but were crushed in a crackdown that left at least 3,000 people dead.
The bloodshed was the catalyst for Suu Kyi. A charismatic orator, she found herself in a leading role in the burgeoning pro-democracy movement, delivering speeches to crowds of hundreds of thousands. During her house arrest years the junta offered to end her imprisonment at any time if she left the country for good but Suu Kyi refused. That decision meant not seeing her husband before his death from cancer in 1999, and missing her two sons growing up. The military eventually granted her freedom in 2010, just days after flawed elections. Two years later she entered parliament after the NLD swept a series of by-elections.
But even if her party wins this general election, she cannot become president thanks to a junta-era constitution that forbids anyone with foreign born offspring from taking the top spot. She towers over the NLD and some observers question whether her star power has eclipsed the efforts of younger party members to emerge. Suu Kyi has vowed to amend the charter. On Thursday she went further, declaring that she will occupy a position "above the president" if the NLD win. In so doing she issued a challenge to the army as well as a reminder to her supporters that she occupies centre stage in Myanmar's political drama. But first she has to win.
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A troubled nation
1885
Centuries of rule by a Buddhist monarchy ends with the defeat and exile of Burma's last king by the British. A lengthy period of Western colonialism begins and Burma (as it was then known) becomes a province of British India.
1941-1945
Japan occupies Burma during World War II. Nationalist hero Aung San fights with the Japanese, but turns against them in the closing stages of the war, joining the Allied counter-offensive in the hope of achieving independence.
His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi, who would go on to lead the pro-democracy movement, is born in 1945.
1948
Burma attains full independence from the British on January 4, a dream Aung San never lived to see following his assassination months earlier.
1962
After years of factional infighting among Burma's political leaders including a general election in 1960 General Ne Win seizes power in a coup, turning the country from a multi-party federal union into an authoritarian one-party state ordered to follow his "Burmese Path to Socialism".
1988
Disastrous economic mismanagement and political repression see Burma erupt in protest. The military responds brutally, killing an estimated 3,000 people. Suu Kyi emerges as a key opposition leader.
1989
Junta changes the country's name to Myanmar.
1990
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) wins a landslide victory in elections but the result is ignored by the military who launch a new crackdown. Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest, where she will spend most of the next 20 years. Many other opposition leaders are jailed or flee.
1991
Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest.
1992
Than Shwe becomes the new junta chief.
2005
A new isolated city Naypyidaw ("Abode of Kings") is revealed as the country's capital after being built in secret by the paranoid junta.
2007
Major protests dubbed the "Saffron revolution" break out over the summer, partially led by Buddhist monks. Junta eventually responds once more with violence, killing scores of protesters.
2008
Vast swathes of the Irrawaddy Delta are devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which leaves some 138,000 people dead. The junta's lacklustre response and resistance to international offers of help draws widespread criticism.
2010
Junta holds elections in early November and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) party claims victory. NLD and many other parties refuse to take part. Observers do not consider the poll free or fair.
Less than a week after the election, Suu Kyi is released after spending 15 of the last 20 years under house arrest.
2011
In a surprise move, the junta relinquishes power to a quasi-civilian government under former general Thein Sein who pursues reforms. Many basic rights are restored, including the lifting of restrictions on assembly and expression, while hundreds of political prisoners are freed.
A ceasefire collapses in northern Kachin state and fighting resumes forcing tens of thousands to flee from their homes.
2012
NLD wins 43 out of 45 seats in April by-elections. Suu Kyi becomes an MP. The United States and European Union begin lifting sanctions and Western businesses start flocking to the country. Sectarian violence flares in western Rakhine state, mainly aimed at the Rohingya Muslim minority.
In November, Barack Obama becomes the first US president to visit Myanmar.
2013
Anti-Muslim violence again erupts, this time in the central town of Meiktila, leaving 43 dead.
2015
Campaigning begins for crunch polls.
