The party of Burma democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi is to field candidates in a series of forthcoming by-elections for vacant parliament seats after years of marginalisation by ruling generals.
The announcement that her National League for Democracy would resume political activity coincided with an announcement by US President Barack Obama that he would send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the isolated country.
That move is part of Washington's offer to improve ties provided Burma, officially known as Myanmar, pursued democratic reforms.
About 100 senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) are in Yangon to discuss re-registering as a political party.
It is the latest in a string of developments in Burma since the first election in 20 years was held last November.
Analysts say the NLD's comeback will add to the legitimacy of the army-backed government, which is seeking to end its global isolation by loosening political shackles - but also increase the relevancy of the popular but long-excluded Suu Kyi.
"With or without Suu Kyi, as we see, Burma is moving along. This is her chance to be part of that change," said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, research fellow at the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
The NLD swept to election victory in 1990 but the junta stopped the party taking office.
It boycotted last year's vote mainly because of rules that would have forced it to expel imprisoned members - Suu Kyi was under house arrest at the time.
The Nobel peace prize winner, who has spent 15 of the last 22 years in detention, was released a few days after the widely discredited 2010 poll and is now planning an entrance to the mainstream political process.
"On the whole I think the great majority of our people will go in for re-registration," 66-year-old Suu Kyi told the BBC yesterday.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama has said he saw "flickers of progress" in Burma and pledged to send his secretary of state there next month.
After speaking for the first time to Aung San Suu Kyi, he said the release of political prisoners and loosening of media restrictions, as well as Ms Suu Kyi's release last year from house arrest, were "the most important steps toward reform in Burma that we've seen in years".
"We want to seize what could be a historic opportunity for progress and make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Mr Obama said.
Washington has gradually tightened sanctions on Burma, which is now ruled by a civilian government after an election last year held with the main purpose of handing over power after nearly five decades of military rule.
Many Western governments have expressed doubts that the new civilian authority is committed to democratic change and has embarked on a different path from its military predecessors.
Mr Obama warned that if Burma did not move towards more openness, it would "continue to face sanctions and isolation".
