Yangon (AsiaNews) - Aung San Suu Kyi has suspended her election campaign after falling ill. National League for Democracy (NLD) deputy information officer Kyi Toe made the announcement yesterday, saying that the Nobel Prize laureate fell ill with vomiting whilst campaigning in the Mergui archipelago in southern Myanmar.
Aung San Suu Kyi is running for one of 48 seats left vacant when lawmakers left to take up a post in government. The NLD, which is running in 47 ridings after one candidate was excluded by the Election Commission, has complained that it has had to face serious obstacles in campaigning because many several venues have been denied to its candidates.
Released in 2010 after 15 years under house arrest, Ms. Suu Kyi has kept a gruelling schedule, travelling thousands of kilometres to campaign around the country for her party.
She fell ill on Saturday during a taxing boat trip because the authorities denied her party the use of a larger ferry-type vessel, which would have allowed her to travel faster. Her group was thus forced to use three smaller boats, which made the journey's duration three times as long.
Despite her illness, she addressed a crowd of 10,000 people Sunday in Mergui, mentioning the problem in obtaining a fast boat.