Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament and was also close to a majority in the upper house, with 80 percent of seats contested in Sunday’s elections already declared.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Suu Kyi for her election win, but also hailed the “courage and vision” of Thein Sein for “leadership in the reform process”. Suu Kyi was arrested and forced her to stay in her house and not have any visitors.
The victory completes her transformation from an icon of democratic struggle against a military regime that branded her a traitor to a political leader who now has responsibility for governing this Southeast Asian nation of 51 million people, which is trying to catch up from lost decades of underdevelopment and isolation.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been moving toward a civilian-led government since the election of current President Thein Sein in 2011. This week, she elaborated in an interview that the NLD would pick a president with “no authority” who would “act in accordance with the positions of the party”.
With the tally still being counted, the Election Commission said that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won 21 additional seats – pushing it over the threshold of 329 seats needed for a majority in the 664-member, two-house Parliament.
The worldwide community has welcomed the election, with US President Barack Obama calling both Suu Kyi and the president to offer his congratulations.
Aung San Suu Kyi, center, leaves after casting her ballot at a polling station in Burma on November 8.
While Myanmar’s people voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to remove the military-backed ruling party from power, it’s clear the army’s involvement in politics won’t end, and the NLD will need to convince it to cooperate.
Key to the challenges facing the NLD, he says, is its relationship with the still powerful army, which retains control over pivotal security ministries and a quarter of parliamentary seats.
Suu Kyi’s party said it received a message Wednesday from Information Minister Ye Htut on behalf of Thein Sein congratulating it for leading the race for parliamentary seats.
The vote for the presidency will take place after the new members take their seats in both houses in February.
The combined houses then form an electoral college to vote on the three candidates.
Ms Suu Kyi herself was put under house arrest prior to the 1990 election, and spent 15 of the next 22 years mostly confined to her lakeside villa in Yangon.
The total of 348 means that the NLD will be able to ensure that their nominee for president becomes the next holder of the country’s top executive post.
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When an NLD government takes power in March, she will come under mounting worldwide pressure to take a definitive stance in their defense.
