With the tally still being counted, the Election Commission said Friday that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party has won 15 more seats, pushing it over the threshold it needed of 329 seats for a majority in the 664-member, two-house Parliament.
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Suu Kyi called on leading members of military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to meet and discuss what she said would be a decisive win for her opposition party.
The election marks a huge step in Myanmar’s journey from military dictatorship to democracy and a moment Nobel peace laureate Ms Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest, will savour.
US President Barack Obama called Myanmar leader Thein Sein to congratulate him today on the staging of a historic general election, in which democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi trounced the ruling camp.
“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.
She said the dialogue is also aimed at to calmly and peacefully satisfy the desire of the people expressed through Sunday’s general election. Suu Kyi has said that a civilian from the party will be up for the post shall the NLD win, although she has indicated she will lead the government from Parliament.
Even if the military does accept the people’s decision this time, Suu Kyi is still constitutionally barred from becoming president because she married a foreign citizen and has two British sons. Myanmar was trapped in a post-election limbo Tuesday with official results barely trickling in, although opposition leader Aung San Suu… While initial results hinted at a sweeping victory for the party, it may take days before final official results are announced. In statements released via Facebook, Thein Sein and the powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing congratulated Suu Kyi’s party, vowed to respect the poll result and work with the new government.
NLD was formed in September 1988 following a military occupation lead by General Saw Maung. Still, she will need to work with the military and its allies because – aside from their reserved parliamentary seats – they will retain control of three key departments: Defense, Home and Border Security.
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Under Myanmar’s complex parliamentary-president system, the military and the largest parties in both the lower and upper houses of parliament will nominate a president.
