Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi hit the campaign trail Sunday ahead of by-elections seen as a key test of the military-backed government's commitment to reform.

Thousands of cheering supporters lined the roads of several towns in the southern district of Dawei, as the Nobel Peace laureate made her first political trip outside Rangoon since declaring she would run for office in the April 1 election.

Aung San Suu Kyi is campaigning in the coastal district to garner support for another candidate running for parliament. She will make similar trips to other areas before campaigning for her own seat as a representative of the poor district of Kawhmu, just south of Rangoon.

The democracy activist spent 15 of the last 20 years as a political prisoner. She was finally released from house arrest in late 2010, just days after the country held elections that were widely viewed as neither free nor fair.