Many Burmese believe Gen. Than Shwe, who headed the junta for almost two decades until 2011 and was the capital’s prime architect, followed the examples of ancient kings who believed changing capitals was auspicious and consulted astrologers before giving the command.
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Voters line up outside a polling station before dawn where Myanmar’s National League for Democracy party leader Aung San Suu Kyi will vote in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, November 8, 2015. “I was very excited and so anxious that I might do something wrong that my hands were shaking”, said fish-seller Kay Khine Soe of the moment she cast her vote. Khin Maung Win / AP Election monitors referred to as it “a remarkable day” full of pleasure & energy.
The daughter of independence hero General Aung San, Suu Kyi, 70, has headed non-violent opposition to the country’s military rulers in a three decade role, which began nearly by accident and has come at great personal cost. Official results are not expected until early next week.
“We won’t be able to announce the results yet”.
“I believe that there will be change if the NLD wins”, said Khine Nyein Aye, a 37-year-old from Insein township in northern Yangon, who was waiting to see if Suu Kyi would speak.
More than 30 million people are eligible to vote in the election. “I couldn’t sleep the whole night, so I came here early”, said Ohnmar, a 38-year-old woman who goes by one name.
“I am just happy to be voting”, said 70-year-old Than Chaung, a former state electrical company worker.
Suu Kyi is the leader of the opposition party, The National League for Democracy-also known as NLD. A shocked army refused to seat the winning lawmakers, with the excuse that a new constitution first had to be implemented – a task that ended up taking 18 years amid intense worldwide pressure. But the USDP’s popularity, or lack of it, was really tested in the 2012 by-election when the National League for Democracy won 43 of the 44 seats it contested. In the 1990 election, the NLD won a majority, but the results were largely ignored by the generals.
Myanmar’s President Thein Sein after casting his vote in Naypyitaw. “Whoever leads the country, the most important thing is to have stability and development in the country”.
Most in the crowd of well-wishers gathered there were lucky to get a glimpse of the garland on her hair as she went inside, without a smile or a wave, to cast her vote.
So given today’s situation, do you think the NLD win?
Suu Kyi was born on June 19, 1945 in Japanese-occupied Rangoon – now called Yangon – during the closing stages of World War II. The election of President will be delayed till February-March next year even though the votes will be counted within a week, leaving room for political maneuvering.
Ms Suu Kyi, a former Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is barred from the presidency as the constitution disqualifies anyone with foreign offspring.
Also, the military is guaranteed key ministerial posts – defense, interior and border security.
Equally the USDP could also look to build alliances with ethnic groups.
“But unless the NLD wins more than 66.5 per cent of seats in the lower and upper house combined, it can not set up a government alone”, he said.
As he showed off his ink-stained finger – a mark election organizers are using to prevent people from voting a few times – he said that the process was reassuringly straightforward. “It’s very hard to imagine that anyone will be running the country without having the support of the military”. A couple hours before, the polls had closed in Burma’s most historic election in a generation.
Several diplomatic missions, including the United States, joined the United Nations in issuing a statement Friday calling “on all stakeholders to ensure that these elections are conducted peacefully, transparently, and in accordance with the will of the people”.
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There have been reports of irregularities, intimidation and people being left off official voter lists, but, at this polling station, we saw no problems, with officials calmly explaining the procedure for filling out ballot papers and placing them in the sealed boxes.
