Aung San Suu Kyi's government will face its first test at the ballot box
on Saturday April 01,2017 in by-elections around Myanmar seen as a barometer for
growing disillusionment with her party a year after it took office.
The euphoria that surrounded the democracy icon's landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to push through promised reforms.
Discontent is particularly acute in ethnic minority areas where many see Suu Kyi as working too closely with the military that ran the country for 50 years and still controls key levers of government.
Over two million voters, less than five percent of the country's population, can vote in the by-elections where seats in eight states and regions across the country are up for grabs.
With only 19 seats up for election, the poll is unlikely to alter the balance of power in a government firmly dominated by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
But the voting may offer a glimpse into the public's view on the party's first year in power.
The euphoria that surrounded the democracy icon's landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to push through promised reforms.
Discontent is particularly acute in ethnic minority areas where many see Suu Kyi as working too closely with the military that ran the country for 50 years and still controls key levers of government.
Over two million voters, less than five percent of the country's population, can vote in the by-elections where seats in eight states and regions across the country are up for grabs.
With only 19 seats up for election, the poll is unlikely to alter the balance of power in a government firmly dominated by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
But the voting may offer a glimpse into the public's view on the party's first year in power.
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