President Thein Sein sought to allay such fears on Sunday during his first speech since the election when he insisted that his semi-civilian government would hand over power, while claiming credit for the country’s transition.
Advertisement
Myanmar’s Parliament chairman yesterday urged lawmakers from the ruling party thrashed at the polls to play fair in the outgoing legislature’s remaining debates, which could determine the budget that a new opposition-led government will inherit next year. The new Parliament convenes on Jan 31 – yet the current government continues running the country until the new President and Cabinet are appointed at the end of March. “I would like to stress that this work will be undertaken calmly, peacefully, and smoothly”, he said.
This may be the reason behind the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar army is called, maintaining its poise and assuring that it will not stand in the way of transfer of power even in the face of such a massive defeat for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the junta proxy, as the military top brass knows it very well that the army’s position is unassailable.
Meanwhile, the Union Election Commission said Sunday the NLD has won an additional three parliamentary seats for a total of 390 out of the 488 seats whose outcome has been determined. The other reported seats have gone to a handful of the country’s ethnic political parties and independent candidates.
Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from leading the country, but has vowed to rule from “above” the next president, who she will select following her NLD’s win in the 8 November polls.
Only time will tell whether democracy really has won through, and a democratically elected government can last in Myanmar. Triumphant NLD supporters, however, may have expectations that exceed the military’s willingness to reform. “We don’t think the transition will be 100 percent ideal”, he told the AFP news agency.
Of the 880 seats, 254 are in the House of Representatives (Lower House), 135 in the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and 474 in the Region or State Parliament, as well as 17 ethnic representatives to the Region or State Parliament. However, his government met a few of the NLD’s demands for changes in the election laws, and the opposition party agreed to run in by-elections in 2012, taking 43 of the 44 seats it contested.
But in crowded towns and distant villages, most of the roughly 30 million eligible voters used to the army’s authoritarian decades have high hopes of improved prosperity under the NLD and a democratic future.
Advertisement
“We won’t be able to solve the problem as long as the worldwide community is supporting and standing for the Bengalis”, said ANP vice-chairman Phone Minn, using the government’s term for the group, which insinuates they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. But its slogan of “discipline flourishing democracy”, meaning primarily crushing of ethnic armed rebellions, has received a setback as the NLD has swept the election in ethnic minority dominated areas too, almost obliterating the ethnicity-based political parties there. The party would also consider appointing non-NLD chief ministers in Shan and Rakhine states.
