As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi stepped off the plane at Loikaw airport to a cheering crowd, her election campaign in politically divided Kayah State appeared to be off to a good start.

Along with scores of activists and local leaders of her National League for Democracy, almost 100 people dressed in the traditional outfits of the state’s many different ethnic tribes lined up to greet her, entertained by traditional bamboo flute players and an enthusiastic brass band in smart uniforms.

Everywhere flags, banners and badges of red with a golden peacock declared this was an NLD event. But the reception was not necessarily quite what it seemed.

Pride of place in the welcome line-up was given to the famous “long neck” women of the Padaung minority. But as activists pinned peacock badges on the women’s traditional tops, and bemused members of the Bre minority contingent shuffled awkwardly as the press snapped their photos, there arose an uncomfortable feeling that many of those led there by local party members to greet The Lady on September 10 had little genuine interest in the NLD.

Myanmar’s smallest state – the only one where the ruling USDP took every seat in 2010 in a heavily rigged result – in many ways represents the wider complex and uncertain nature of the forthcoming election.

Headlines have accused USDP members of using their personal wealth to sway votes in the state, with villagers saying they have been offered rice, goats and even satellite dishes in the run-up to the official campaign period.

Still the USDP has also built roads and set up training centres over recent years, earning its representatives a popularity in some quarters that now presents a challenge to Daw Suu Kyi.

“We are not a rich party,” she told several hundred people, incense burning to keep mosquitoes at bay as they gathered in a field in Bawlakhe township. Most did not look particularly impressed.

The 70-year-old party leader had made the bumpy, hilly journey to remote Bawlakhe to make a point. The village sits in the constituency contested by U Soe Thane, a government minister and close ally of President U Thein Sein.

He is not standing under the USDP banner after being sidelined by party leader Thura U Shwe Mann who rejected a number of proposed candidates close to the president and military before his own removal as party chair last month. Nevertheless U Soe Thane is still seen as the ruling party’s unofficial representative in Bawlakhe and is among those accused of using his personal wealth to sway voters.

Daw Suu Kyi also journeyed to even more isolated Shadaw township where U Aung Min, another USDP minister barred from the official party candidacy but considered a key player, is also accused of using his own money to attract voters.

“Take what they give you, but vote for me,” Daw Suu Kyi said, according to those in the crowd.

Political observers suggest her plea is unlikely to resonate enough to win the seats in question. But at least one man in the crowd was upbeat about her prospects. “We are fed up with dictators,” said the man who had recently returned from a Thai refugee camp.

Wealthy opponents are not the only challenges. The NLD leader’s unproven track-record in government and an electorate unfamiliar with democratic politics and isolated from Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon are also barriers.

During her three-day tour, Daw Suu Kyi repeatedly told rallies she was the best person to “lead the country”. Deftly avoiding the thorny issue that she is constitutionally barred from holding the presidency, she promised to deliver for the people across the board.

But in question and answer sessions after her speeches and general discussion around her visit, one question was asked repeatedly, “You haven’t done anything for us before now, how do we know what you will do for us after the election?”

She attempted to point out that the current government had prevented her from being in a position to do so. But her logic seemed lost as the difficulties of campaigning for democracy among voters who have no experience of it became apparent.

Nonetheless The Lady worked the crowds. At Demoso, her first stop, she took to the stage in front of over 2000 people as a very different character from the poised, brittle personality she usually presents.

All winning smiles and cheers, she remained unruffled when the first person to raise a hand turned out to be staggeringly drunk then charmed the crowd with her jokey response. In Pruso she broke off to offer witty advice to a young mother whose crying baby was disrupting procedures.

“I’ve loved her since I was a little girl,” said one middle-aged woman. “She is like our mother. She does nothing for herself. Everything she does is for the Myanmar people.”

“She is very popular here,” said one grandmother. “People want things to change.”

But the USDP is not the only party the NLD must compete with in Kayah. At least five ethnic parties are fielding candidates, and while they are more fractured than in some other states, those standing against them do not underestimate their power.

A source close to the leadership of Kayah’s current state government, told The Myanmar Times they believed there would be no clear winner with the vote being split between the USDP, the NLD and the main ethnic representative group.

And while Daw Suu Kyi promised protection of ethnic rights, her earlier decision to reject the offer of a deal from ethnic parties and to stand against their representatives has rankled activists in Kayah.

“Because she is famous she will take away votes from them, and that is not good for the people,” said one member of a civil society group supporting the rights of Kayan people.

For many in remote villages the dealings of far away politicians have little importance for their daily lives.

Local concerns dominate for Myanmar’s large majority living in small rural communities.

Pan Pet, an hour’s drive from Loikaw, is well known as the last village where a significant number of women still uphold the long neck tradition in which women from childhood wear a heavy neck brace of brass circlets, adding to them over the years.

Some of the long neck women The Myanmar Times spoke to in Pan Pet had not heard of the November election.

Sitting outside a small souvenir shop, two long neck women in their mid-60s sounded dubious about the whole process and had little faith in outsiders.

“We’d heard there will be an election, but we don’t know when,” said one. “If an election does happen we will vote for the ethnic party.”

Daw Suu Kyi may be able to charm the crowds, but her slogan “vote for the party not the candidate” holds little resonance for many in Kayah.