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. The dictatorship, with Suu Kyi in mind, inserted a clause into the constitution barring anyone with foreign-born children from serving as president. But the military then refused to hand over power, putting Suu Kyi under house arrest instead for most of the next 20 years.
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Under Myanmar’s quasi-presidential system set up by the former military junta, the president names his or her government but will have to share power with the military which remains beyond executive authority and will control the key ministers of defence, interior and border affairs.
During the election campaign, there was no mention of her design for the administration, and no concrete policies have been revealed.
The confirmation came five years to the day since the junta released Suu Kyi from house arrest.
On Thursday, the headline for the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper read: “Welcoming the New Guard”.
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon congratulated Suu Kyi for her election win, but also hailed the “courage and vision” of Mr Thein Sein for “leadership in the reform process”.
Ye Htut said the government will pursue a peaceful transfer of power “in accordance with the legislated timeline”. There are hard questions to be answered by Aung San Suu Kyi as to just how much power she is prepared to delegate and exactly what is going to be her role.
Myanmar’s commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing also sent congratulations. The November 8 ballot was the most widely contested poll since 1990, when a first NLD landslide was ignored by the generals, plunging the country into another generation of repression and isolation.
Burma’s combined houses of parliament are made up of 664 seats, but elections were not held in seven constituencies, meaning a simple majority could be reached with 329 seats.
“This is in many ways it a momentous opportunity for the people of Burma”, Rhodes told reporters.
Current president Thein Sein said he will respect the final results and will hold talks with Ms Suu Kyi after the election following an invitation from the NLD leader on Wednesday.
The overwhelming victor was Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party (NLD) captured an outright majority in the country’s parliament and is now free to choose its next president. At that rate, she will probably get a majority despite the military’s right to fill 25 percent of the parliament, the Journal said.
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The parliamentary poll results signified that the NLD can lead not only in the central Union parliament and central Union government, but also in the Region or State parliaments and the Region or State governments.
