Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a majority win in Myanmar's first openly contested election in 25 years in November 2015. The win came five years to the day since she was released from 15 years of house arrest. The 70-year-old spent much of her time between 1989 and 2010 in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to military-ruled Myanmar (Burma) - a fact that made her an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression. In 1991, "The Lady" as she's known, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the committee chairman called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless". However, after her release and subsequent political career, Ms Suu Kyi has come in for criticism by some rights groups for what they say has been a failure to speak up for Myanmar's minority groups during a time of ethnic violence in parts of the country.In 1960 she went to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Myanmar's ambassador in Delhi. Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband, academic Michael Aris. After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled in the UK to raise their two children, Alexander and Kim, but Myanmar was never far from her thoughts. When she arrived back in Rangoon (Yangon) in 1988 - to look after her critically ill mother - Myanmar was in the midst of major political upheaval. Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform. "I could not as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech in Rangoon on 26 August 1988, and was propelled into leading the revolt against the then-dictator, General Ne Win. Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections. But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988. Ms Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest the following year. The military government called national elections in May 1990 which Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won - however, the junta refused to hand over control. House arrest Ms Suu Kyi remained under house arrest in Rangoon for six years, until she was released in July 1995.

• published: 12 Mar 2016
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