HISTORY was made in Myanmar this week with the landslide election win of Nobel prize laureate and pro-democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi – pronounced ong sun soo chi – and her National League for Democracy (NLD).
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An interim tally by the country’s election commission released Friday showed that the NLD has captured a single majority of the 664 seats in Parliament, which includes uncontested seats reserved for members of the military. On Tuesday, when still only a small fraction of the results had been announced, the party publicly said it expected to win a majority in both Houses.
In 1990 the NLD held 392 of 492 seats only to be denied seats in parliament by yet another military coup and a new form of “gun barrel government”.
Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by a provision in the current Constitution, but she has said that she will choose a president to serve as her proxy.
Buoyed by her party’s sweep of the polls, Suu Kyi has called for “national reconciliation talks” with President Thein Sein and army chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Suu Kyi has declared, however, that she will become the country’s de facto leader, acting “above the president” if her party forms the next government, and that the new president will be a figurehead.
Meanwhile, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, or USDP, has won 104 seats, including 28 in the House of Representatives, 12 in the House of Nationalities, and 62 in the Region or State Parliament.
Suu Kyi is one of the world’s most recognizable activists for Democracy having peacefully struggled against Myanmar’s military rule since her initial arrest in 1989. Twenty five percent of all parliamentary seats are awarded to unelected military officials meaning the NLD will need to co-operate with its former antagonist. The country, reports said, had been under army control for half a century.
The President commended Aung San Suu Kyi for “her tireless efforts” and sacrifice over so many years to promote a more inclusive, peaceful and democratic Myanmar.
Far from taking a combative approach to the generals that for years tried to crush their movement, Nay Phone Latt said civilian MPs would “build a relationship” with their military counterparts. Minority parties won a handful of further seats.
With the latest results from the election commission, Suu Kyi’s majority in the lower house is big enough to give the NLD an overall majority in the joint chambers.
Meanwhile, China on Thursday avoided congratulating Myanmar Ms Suu Kyi which has the potential to strain ties with Beijing.
Suu Kyi is undaunted, however. “I hope under her leadership India & Myanmar continue to draw closer”, the Congress Vice President said on Twitter.
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Myanmar’s government has denied Rohingya Muslims citizenship, and hundreds died in clashes between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012. The military’s bloc will also be able to effectively pick the second vice president and the armed forces will retain control over the home and defense ministries and border areas.
