Aung San Suu Kyi's historic moment: 5 things to know

Once possibly the world's best-known political prisoner, today Aung San Suu Kyi made the historic move to lawmaker, after a swearing-in ceremony at Myanmar's parliament in the capital of Naypyidaw. Here are five things about her.

2. Why has Aung San Suu Kyi never held office before?

Known affectionately to Burmese as "The Lady," or "Daw Suu (Auntie Suu)," Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday reversed her initial boycott of Myanmar's parliament after a public outcry from supporters keen for her join parliament, 22 years after she won a general election but was denied office. The legislature requires an oath to the country's constitution, a document Aung San Suu Kyi aims to amend. 

She should have taken office long ago, as her party won a 1990 election in landslide, but the result was ignored by the army. Before that, her rise to prominence as the leader of then-Burma's pro-democracy movement in 1988 was met with stern, often brutal opposition from the country's military rulers.

Her marriage to a British academic, anthropologist Michael Aris, was also used justification to keep her out, ruling that anyone married to a foreigner was barred from office.

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