The election commission’s latest announcement Thursday night showed that the NLD needs just two more seats to reach the 329 it needs for a majority in the 664-member, two-house Parliament.
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While its political proxy, the USDP, faces annihilation at the polls, the army has its stake in future carved out under a constitution it wrote.
The army is also gifted 25 percent of parliamentary seats uncontested, as well as control of Myanmar’s security apparatus – meaning it will retain vast power despite the huge support for the NLD. In June this year, China set aside its reservations and invited Suu Kyi to formally establish its links with her. In his meeting with her, Chinese President Xi Jinping asked her to take a long term view of Sino-Myanmar ties which faced turbulence after the fall of military junta and her release after 21 years of imprisonment. But while an NLD majority assures it of being able to elect the president, Suu Kyi remains barred from the office by a constitutional provision inserted by the military before it transferred power to Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government in 2011. There were widespread fears that the polls would be rigged in the military’s favor, similar to the sham 2010 elections the NLD boycotted and the USDP swept.
Elections explained: Why does this vote matter?
The European Union, United States and United Nations all endorsed the process as a genuine expression of the popular will, while each fell short of endorsing the vote as completely free and fair.
In a statement on Facebook yesterday President Thein Sein, whose government has steered recent reforms, said “we would like to congratulate” Suu Kyi for “winning the people’s approval”. Analysts anticipate the US will aim to quickly lift its now-suspended economic sanctions, although measures imposed against individuals involved in arms dealings with North Korea are expected to remain.
Suu Kyi’s party is on the verge of victory with results from the parliamentary elections still coming in.
“Mother Suu”, as she is affectionately known, has said a democratic government would not seek to punish historic abuses by the military. But it’s unclear how much freedom the military rulers will allow. He has also highlighted the plight of the ethnic Rohingya Muslims, tens of thousands of whom were excluded from voting.
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NLD co-founder Tin Oo told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the party expects to win about 80 percent of the votes – putting it on pace with the party’s 1990 landslide that the military annulled. While hopes run high for a new democratic era in Myanmar, the political reality is that Suu Kyi’s NLD will be locked in a largely undefined power-sharing arrangement with the military that will likely constrain the NLD’s ability to implement policies, effect change, and pursue justice.
