Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday she will seek election to the Myanmar Parliament now that her party plans to rejoin the political process.
Her National League for Democracy said it would register to participate in as-yet unscheduled by-elections (special elections), the BBC reported.
The party boycotted the November 2010 elections, the first conducted in 20 years, because election laws barred Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize winner, from seeking office.
In Indonesia, U.S. President Barack Obama said he would send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, next month to exlore whether the United States "can empower a positive transition in Burma and begin a new chapter between our countries."
"I spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi, directly, and confirmed that she supports American engagement to move this process forward," Obama said in Bali during the Association of South-East Asian Nations summit.
Obama said the world has seen "flickers of progress" in recent weeks in the isolated Asian nation, noting a dialogue has begun between the government and Suu Kyi, political prisoners have been released, laws passed to open up the election process and media restrictions relaxed.
Clinton will be the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the country in 50 years.
The announcements from Suu Kyi and her party came after senior NLD leaders met in Yangon, the BBC said.
"We unanimously decide that the National League for Democracy will register according to party registration laws, and we will take part in the coming by-elections," a party statement said.