Suu Kyi's party to contest Myanmar polls

The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, decided on Saturday to contest the upcoming general elections in Myanmar slated for November 8.

Suu Kyi, chairperson of the NLD, said at a press conference that following a meeting of the party's Central Executive Committee at her residence in the capital, the party, including herself, decided to compete in all three levels of the parliament and in almost all constituencies, Xinhua news agency reported.

Priority will be given to qualified party members, especially women, youth and ethnic people in selection of candidates, she said.

The NLD's decision came days after the Union Election Commission ( UEC) announced November 8 as the date for holding the country's general elections.

The commission has urged political parties to submit the list of their candidates in terms of levels of the parliament and constituencies from July 20 to August 8 to contest in the elections and approval will be given after scrutiny.

The commission has designated 1,171 constituencies across the country for the vote at four levels of parliament representatives with 330 constituencies set for election of the House of Representatives (lower house), 168 constituencies for the House of Nationalities (upper house), 644 constituencies for regional or state parliaments and 29 constituencies for regional or state parliaments in the national race.

According to the commission, there are 83 registered political parties in Myanmar and each of them is set to compete in at least three constituencies.

The 2015 general elections will elect representatives to the next term of the parliament which will form the government starting 2016.