As Myanmar heads into historic election democracy under threat

"People want a happy ending. They want Burma to be a success story."- Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy

This Sunday's election in Myanmar, also know as Burma is an event Aung San Suu Kyi could only have dreamt about -- and agitated for -- during the fifteen years she spent under house arrest. 

Today, the Nobel Peace Laureate leads the opposition National League for Democracy, or NLD. She herself is constitutionally barred from becoming president, because she has relatives who are foreigners.  

Nearly half a century of military control gave way to something closer to democracy in 2010, when elections were held — though they were not considered free and fair by observers including the U.N.

There are greater hopes, though, for this Sunday's vote -- despite concerns about the religious and ethnic tensions in the lead up to it. 

Alex  Bookbinder is deputy editor of the magazine Frontier Myanmar. He is in Rangoon. Hello.

Of course countries around the region -- and around the world -- will be watching closely to see how free and fair this weekend's vote truly is in Myanmar.  Among those with concerns, is Yanghee Lee.  She is the UN Special Rapporteur to Myanmar... and she joins us now from Seoul, Korea. Hello.

Progress in Myanmar, also known as Burma. is a difficult thing to measure in this case. Because it all depends, on who's doing the measuring.

Jared Genser has been following the situation in Burma for years, as the lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi and now with his organization Freedom Now, which works to free prisoners of conscience. We reached him in Miami, Florida.
 

This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley.