Kyi Maung, 86; Led Pro-Democracy Movement in Myanmar

Kyi Maung, 86, a former army colonel who became a leading member of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement but later had a falling out with its leader, died Thursday of heart failure in Yangon.

As a founder of the National League for Democracy, Kyi Maung went from deputy chairman to acting head of the party in 1989 when NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others were arrested by the ruling military regime.

Kyi Maung led the NLD to a landslide victory in 1990, winning 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in Myanmar’s first multiparty elections in 30 years. But the regime refused to hand over power, and Kyi Maung, who had been elected to parliament himself, was arrested four months later and imprisoned. He was released in 1995.

The same year, Aung San Suu Kyi was released after six years of house arrest. Two years later, Kyi Maung had a falling out with the leader and left the party.