“Mother Suu”, as she is affectionately known, has said a democratic government would not seek to punish historic abuses by the military, but a massive popular mandate may prod them to sit down with their chief antagonist.
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Aung San Suu Kyi called for “national reconciliation” talks with Myanmar’s president and the nation’s powerful army chief on Wednesday as her pro-democracy party stood poised for a landslide election victory. “Our message to the people of the country on behalf of U Thein Sein is that President U Thein Sein wants to congratulate the Myanmar people for the free and fair and very peaceful election day”, Administration party spokesman U Ye Htut told the BBC.
The victory is a major triumph for democracy after 49 years of the country under rule by a brutal military junta until 2011 when it gave way to a nominally civilian elected government. She says she will rule as party leader above the president, whom she will choose.
Ye Htut said earlier on Wednesday that the government agreed to Ms Suu Kyi’s proposal for a meeting to discuss national reconciliation.
Parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, a former high ranking general, had been tipped as a compromise candidate for the presidency – although his star has waned inside the USDP before he too lost his seat.
She also said the people are far more aware now than in 1990.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi won her seat, but is barred from becoming president because her close relatives are foreign.
She says the election puts Myanmar solidly on the path to democracy, and the enthusiasm of Burmese voters is a refreshing contrast to the apathy of a few voters in more mature democracies. Under the junta-crafted constitution, a quarter of the seats in both chambers are unelected and reserved for the armed forces.
The NLD won 291 seats in three levels of parliament, including 78 in the House of Representatives, 29 in the House of Nationalities and 182 in the Region or State Parliament, according to the result released by the UEC on Tuesday night. She believes that activism helped pave the way for her electoral win.
The accusation raises questions about the intentions of the ruling Union Solidarity Development Party, which is beholden to the military that ruled the country with an iron grip from 1962 until 2011.
With about 40% of seats declared, the NLD has taken almost 90% of the vote, leaving the military-backed USDP party with about 5% of seats.
If the NLD secures a two-thirds majority of the parliamentary seats at stake – which appears a likely scenario – it would gain control over the executive posts under Myanmar’s complicated parliamentary-presidency system.
Suu Kyi was in a meeting and couldn’t meet the woman.
This story has been corrected to show that 216 lower house seats have been announced, not 217.
“A new president will need to be chosen – a selection process involving the upper, lower house and the military”.
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RFA: How will the NLD’s relationship with military be? After January 31, all 664 legislators will cast ballots and the top vote-getter will become president, while the other two will be vice presidents.
