The votes are still being counted, but opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the likely victor in Myanmar’s elections held Sunday, wasted no time Wednesday getting down to business, setting a meeting with the former and current military men now in charge to talk about a smooth transfer of power.
Advertisement
President Thein Sein, the leader of the present military rule in the country, has said he will respect the election results.
The NLD won 291 seats in three levels of parliament, including 78 in the House of Representatives, 29 in the House of Nationalities and 182 in the Region or State Parliament, according to the result released by the UEC on Tuesday night.
The military establishment has not formally conceded defeat but it has acknowledged the massive success of Suu Kyi’s party, and has assured it will respect the final election results.
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.
Analysts say hard months lie ahead, with the charter gifting the army a parliamentary bloc to obstruct changes, key security posts and block Suu Kyi’s political ascent.
Ms Suu Kyi said in an interview with the BBC that, with results coming in steadily, her party will probably take around 75pc of the seats being contested for the combined houses of parliament.
The NLD, with about 40% of seats declared has taken almost 90% of the vote, which left the military-backed USDP party with about 5% of seats.
The newly elected Suu Kyi competed against rival U Kyaw Zin Hein, a candidate representing the incumbent Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
Under a constitution it wrote, 25 percent of all parliamentary seats are reserved for military appointees.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) government hopes to strengthen exchanges with Myanmar in all areas, based on the existing foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. For the NLD to have the winning majority and be able to select the president, it will need at least two-thirds of all seats.
Even with a win for her party, Suu Kyi can not become president under the country’s constitution as she is married to a British citizen and her children have United Kingdom passports.
The democracy figurehead, who retained her seat in Kawhmu constituency, has vowed to rule from “above the president”, indicating she will use a proxy to sidestep the bar on her taking the top office. “But that won’t stop me from making all the decisions as the leader of the winning party”.
There are 664 seats in the two houses of Parliament; the military appoints 166 of them.
Advertisement
Instead, they placed the NLD’s legendary leader Suu Kyi under house arrest and the country under lockdown for nearly a quarter of a century of corrupt and sometimes violent governance, turning Myanmar into an worldwide pariah.
