YANGON: Myanmar voters cast their ballots in a small but key by-election Saturday, a rare local test of support for embattled leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party more than halfway through her time in office.
Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) swept to power in 2015 in a landslide victory ending decades of military rule.
But her tenure has been marred by a failure to speak up for Rohingya Muslims driven out of the country by the army and stumbling peace talks with insurgent groups in lawless border areas.
A mere 13 positions are in play in the country’s second by-election since the national poll three years ago, but they are spread out across the country and include parliamentary and regional assembly seats.
Some two-dozen parties are in the mix and 69 candidates are taking part.
At one polling station in Yangon’s Tamwe township residents showed support for Suu Kyi while acknowleding some of the criticism.
“I voted NLD this morning,” Maung Maung, 34, a software engineer who lives in Tamwe, told AFP.
“I was a strong supporter of the NLD for years but during the years when NLD took power, there were some failures that they are working on,” he added, without going into detail.
Aye Soe, a 52-year-old street vendor, expressed full-throated backing.
“I will support her until I die,” she said.
Initial results are expected to be announced on Sunday.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi’s reputation at home is more secure than it is abroad, where her image as a rights icon has been shattered by the Rohingya crisis.
More than 720,000 from the stateless Muslim minority have fled to Bangladesh since a military crackdown in August 2017.
Huddled in crowded camps, they have recounted stories of murder, rape and villages burned to the ground.
Myanmar has denied almost all of the allegations, saying soldiers were defending themselves against Rohingya militants.
UN investigators have called for the situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court and for senior members of the Tatmadaw, as the armed forces are known, to be investigated on genocide charges.
zaw-joe/kaf
Myanmar by-election rare local test for Aung San Suu Kyi
Myanmar by-election rare local test for Aung San Suu Kyi
- Suu Kyi's tenure has been marred by a failure to speak up for Rohingya Muslims driven out of the country by the army and stumbling peace talks with insurgent groups
- Some two-dozen parties are in the mix and 69 candidates are taking part
Palestinian woman hospitalized following seizure in US ICE detention
- Kordia, a 33-year-old Muslim Palestinian woman living in the US and whose mother is an American citizen, was detained by US immigration authorities early last year
WASHINGTON: A Palestinian woman, who lost dozens of family members in the Gaza war, has been hospitalized following a seizure in US immigration detention, the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday.
On February 6, 2026, at about 8:45 p.m., “medical staff at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, notified ICE that detainee Leqaa Kordia was admitted to Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Burleson, Texas, for further evaluation following a seizure,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Kordia, a 33-year-old Muslim Palestinian woman living in the US and whose mother is an American citizen, was detained by US immigration authorities early last year.
She was detained during a meeting with immigration officials at the Newark Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office, where she was accompanied by her attorney. At the time of her detention last year, Kordia was in the process of securing legal residency.
In a weekend statement cited by media, her family and legal team said they have not received communication from US authorities about her health. The family could not immediately be reached for comment. DHS says ICE will ensure she receives proper medical care.
Rights groups have long reported on detainee complaints about conditions in ICE detention facilities, calling the conditions inhumane. The federal government has denied treating detainees inhumanely.
Amnesty International says 175 members of Kordia’s family have been killed during Israel’s assault on Gaza since late 2023 following an attack by militant group Hamas.
The Homeland Security Department says Kordia, who was raised in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was arrested for immigration violations related to overstaying her expired student visa. The DHS also says she was arrested by local authorities in 2024 during pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University that the department cast as being supportive of Hamas.
Kordia and other protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly equates criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Kordia has said she was targeted for pro-Palestinian activism and cast the conditions in her detention facility as “filthy, overcrowded and inhumane.”
President Donald Trump’s administration cracked down on pro-Palestinian protests by threatening to freeze federal funds for universities where protests occurred and by attempting to deport foreign protesters. It has faced legal obstacles while rights advocates say the crackdown hurts free speech and lacks due process.
