Watershed moment for a champion of democracy

Yangon

THE last time Myanmar held a nationwide election, Aung San Suu Kyi languished under house arrest while her party's landslide win was simply ignored by the country's military rulers.

Twenty-five years on, the democracy champion cast her ballot on Sunday morning at a Yangon polling station - the culmination of an exhausting few weeks of campaigning that drew large, jubilant crowds hoping this will be Myanmar's fairest vote in decades.

For Ms Suu Kyi, 70, the polls are a watershed moment in a life entwined with the turbulent political struggles of her homeland, shaped by decades of brutal junta rule that only began to ease in 2011.

The daughter of independence hero Aung San, Ms Suu Kyi has headed non-violent opposition to the country's military rulers …