Supporters ride vehicles decorated with the National League for Democracy (NLD) party flags and portraits of Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a motorcade campaign in Yangon on Sept. 9 for the upcoming general election. (Photo: Sai Aung Main/AFP)
On the morning of Sept. 8, numerous houses, taxis, cars, motorcycles and bikes raised a familiar red flag with peacocks, while some groups drove around the townships waving the National League for Democracy (NLD) emblem.
It was the official launch of campaigning for Myanmar's Nov. 8 general election in a nation still trying to come to grips with myriad problems from decades-long military rule, ethnic strife, lack of proper health and education opportunities and, most recently, the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine.
Myanmar’s civilian leader and chair of the ruling NLD, Aung San Suu Kyi, raised the party’s flag in an office in Naypyitaw, the nation's remote capital city, on Sept. 8, kicking off the official 60 days of campaigning.
Wearing white gloves and a plastic face shield over a mask, she slowly raised her party’s flag in the compound while her aides observed social distancing in a subdued event.