US President Barack Obama called Myanmar leader Thein Sein to congratulate him on Thursday on the staging of a historic general election, in which democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi trounced the ruling camp.
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But stronger complaints about irregularities are emerging from the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was decimated in the election, with many of its ministers and top officials thrown out of their seats, including powerful generals.
The NLD is also far ahead in the upper chamber of parliament, winning 95 of the 116 seats announced so far.
President Thein Sein, a former army general, congratulated Suu Kyi on her party’s lead in the landmark parliamentary elections, moving a step closer toward a power transfer in a nation once under strict military rule.
In a letter released by her party on Wednesday, Suu Kyi asked to meet with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander in chief of the military.
India today said it trusts that the electoral outcome in Myanmar, in which pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party is poised for a landslide election victory, will be respected by all parties.
The document also blocks the 70-year-old Ms Suu Kyi from becoming president despite her position as the democracy movement’s magnetic force.
She noted in the interview that the military had repeatedly said it would honour the election results. She said she will be “above the president” for which her party has a candidate whose identity has not been revealed. A majority of the parliamentary seats have been won by NLD.
The ruling Communist Party hosted Aung San Suu Kyi in June, when she met with China’s president and party leader, Xi Jinping, in a sign of Beijing’s willingness to adapt to the changing political landscape.
President Thein Sein sent his congratulations to Suu Kyi and her party for “gathering the support of the people”.
To form Myanmar’s first democratically elected government since the early 1960s, the NLD needs to win more than two-thirds of seats that were contested.
On Wednesday, the United States president also called Suu Kyi to thank her for “tireless efforts and sacrifice over so many years” to promote peace and democracy.
Suu Kyi herself won a seat from in the Kawhmu constituency in Yangon, the Union Election Commission said Wednesday.
If the NLD secures a parliamentary majority, it will gain control over the executive posts under Myanmar’s complicated parliamentary-presidency system. But spokesman U Ye Htut said such a meeting could only take place after the final results were announced.
But she has said “that won’t stop me from making all the decisions”.
She told reporters the election had been “largely free” but there had been incidents of intimidation, adding she was anxious election officials were releasing votes “piece by piece”.
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The party says it has guided the country through the major economic and social reforms that led to Sunday’s election, which is believed to have seen a massive 80 per cent voter turnout.
