That means Aung San Suu Kyi and her party would be able to more or less have a few say in having Burma governed as a democracy and steer it into greater respectability in the world community than the present rulers, who are virtually the former military strongmen who were the country’s undemocratic tyrants since they took over Burma in a coup d’etat in 1962.
Advertisement
“Implementing the people’s desires calmly after Election Day is very important for the country’s dignity, and for our people’s peace of mind”, the Wall Street Journal reported Suu Kyi as saying in letters to Min Aung Hlaing, who heads the military, Myanmar President Thein Sein and speaker of parliament Shwe Mann.
“We believe we can win”, Ayea Nyeian Thursday, a doctor, told CNN at the rally. The NLD is expected to surpass the 67 percent share of the vote needed to assure a parliamentary majority – unusually high because 25 percent of seats are reserved for unlected military officials. The British Embassy yesterday issued a statement with Cameron’s response to the election, as results continued to indicate a massive victory by opposition leader Suu Kyi.
But will the military allow Suu Kyi to govern? She said she will be “above the president” for which her party has a candidate whose identity has not been revealed.
The army simply swatted away that result and tightened its grip on the country, jailing dissidents and confining Suu Kyi to house arrest.
President U Thein Sein has congratulated the National League for Democracy on its landslide victory in the November 8 vote and promised a peaceful transfer of power, the party said.
On the vexing question of the presidency from which she is constitutionally barred, she repeated she would make the big decisions while a colleague holds the post, joking: “A rose by another name”.
Sunday’s election has left the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in tatters, taking just a handful of seats so far, with several party heavyweights bundled out off their constituencies by voters. She says she will rule as party leader above the president, whom she will choose.
Myanmar’s transition to greater democracy after decades of military rule surged ahead as the government promised a peaceful transition of power.
Mr. Shwe added that his party lost because it was unable to achieve reforms at the local level, and the NLD relied heavily on the reputation of Ms. Suu Kyi.
To form Burma’s first democratically elected government since the early 1960s, the NLD needs to win more than two-thirds of seats that were contested in parliament.
Advertisement
A primarily Buddhist country, Myanmar denies its Muslim minority-numbering over 1.1 million people-citizenship and basic rights.
