Aung San Suu Kyi was met by thousands of cheering supporters in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta Tuesday on her second campaign trip ahead of by-elections that could sweep her into parliament.
Huge crowds clogged the streets of Pathein to see the democracy icon, whose decision to contest the April 1 vote is seen as a key sign of reform in a country that emerged from nearly half a century of direct army rule last year.
Local people waved pictures of the Nobel laureate and held out flowers, while saffron-robed monks waved the flag of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
"We all need to work for free and fair elections," Suu Kyi told supporters packed into the town's sports stadium. "I saw many young people on my way here -- they are the force, the future of the country."
Suu Kyi's latest foray outside of Yangon comes after a planned two-day visit to the central city of Mandalay on Saturday was postponed because the venue offered by the authorities was too small.
In her first campaign trip to the southern city of Dawei in late January, streets were flooded with tens of thousands of local people.
Suu Kyi's participation in the April vote is likely to lend legitimacy to Myanmar's parliament, which is dominated by former generals.
The April polls, held to fill places vacated by those elected in 2010 who have since become ministers and deputy ministers in the government, will mark the first time Suu Kyi has been able to directly participate in a Myanmar vote.
The NLD is running for all 48 seats up for grabs in the polls and Suu Kyi is standing in a rural constituency near Yangon, but the seats available are not enough to threaten a majority held by the army-backed ruling party.
A new regime has surprised observers with reforms including welcoming the NLD back into the political mainstream, signing ceasefire deals with ethnic minority rebels and releasing hundreds of political prisoners.
The nominally-civilian government came to power following November 2010 elections that were marred by widespread complaints of cheating and the absence of Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest at the time.
The United States on Monday lifted one of its many sanctions against Myanmar in recognition of recent positive moves and other Western nations have also tentatively begun easing punitive measures.
But controversy surrounding the 2010 vote means the upcoming by-elections will be heavily scrutinised.
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