The NLD is reported to be leading in Sunday’s general election.
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NLD supporters gathered amid jubilant scenes outside the party’s Yangon headquarters Monday night, waving NLD flags and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Suu Kyi’s image, in anticipation of a big victory.
“It is not the time to congratulate our candidates who we think have won the election”, she told supporters and journalists from the balcony of her party’s Yangon headquarters.
Still, there was excitement among voters about the first general election since a quasi-civilian government replaced military rule in 2011, which was widely seen as a referendum on the country’s unsteady reform process. “However, we do accept the results without any reservations”.
“I want Mother Suu to win in this election”, said Massachusetts Khine, a street vendor, referring to the 70-year-old with an affectionate term many use.
But that did nothing to dampen enthusiasm for democracy among the 30 million registered voters, many of whom began queuing before dawn to cast their ballot. She also can not be elected president by the parliament, because of a law that bars people with foreign spouses and relatives. Her late husband and their two sons are British.
The ruling USDP has fielded 1,122 candidates, while the NLD has 1,123 nominees in the running.
“We lost”, Htay Oo, leader of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told Reuters.
Mr Khin May Oo, 73, who voted there earlier, said he believed the country was at a turning point, but he was anxious about the army: “I’m not sure whether they will accept the election results”, he said.
Incomplete vote counts showed a few of the most powerful politicians of the USDP trailing in their bids for parliamentary seats, indicating a heavy loss for the party created by the former junta and led by retired military officers.
Even if she gets the majority she needs, Suu Kyi is barred from taking the presidency herself under the constitution written by the junta to preserve its power.
Of them, 323 constituencies are for contesting seats of House of Representatives, 168 for House of Nationalities, 630 for the Region or State Parliament and 29 for ethnic representatives.
A result in this poll is not likely until Tuesday, and a president will only be chosen in the New Year. The country has gradually moved toward democracy since the military gave up its half-century rule in 2011.
Lyrics to the song, called “The Strong Peacock”, in reference to the party’s symbol, became popular with supporters nationwide during the campaign period.
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“She’s the people’s leader who the whole world knows”, the crowds sang. “Go, go, go (away) dictatorship”.
