Opposition NLD party says it is on track to win over 70% of seats as election results start to come in across the country
Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi’’s National League for Democracy party
cheer as they watch the election results on a screen in Mandalay.
Photograph: Olivia Harris/Reuters Oliver Holmes in Yangon,
Myanmar’s opposition NLD party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi,
says it is on track to win more than 70% of seats in the country’s
historic election – a tally that could sweep it to power and end decades
of military dominance.The National League for Democracy’s hopes of a decisive victory
increased as Myanmar’s election commission began to release results from
across the country.The NLD won all 32 out of the first 32 seats announced for Myanmar
lower house, plus three out of four seats for the regional assemblies,
prompting celebratory scenes among supporters outside party headquarters
in Yangon.
— Kevin Doyle (@doyle_kevin)
November 9, 2015
As results come in, NLD supporters cheering and clapping #Yangon #myanmar pic.twitter.com/g7cKjTgRRY
A total of 498 seats are being contested in the upper and lower
houses of Myanmar’s parliament. More results are expected to be
announced throughout Monday. “We will win a landslide,” Nyan Win, a
party spokesman, told the Associated Press.
Aung San Suu Kyi earlier hinted at victory in Myanmar’s first free elections for decades, despite an unexpected delay in the release of the results.
Aung San Suu Kyi earlier hinted at victory in Myanmar’s first free elections for decades, despite an unexpected delay in the release of the results.
“It is still a bit early to congratulate our candidates who will be the winners,” she said. “I want to remind you all that even candidates who didn’t win have to accept the winners, but it is important not to provoke the candidates who didn’t win to make them feel bad.”
A big crowd of NLD supporters had gathered on Sunday evening in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon under the British empire, to cheer, dance and wave red flags.
As many polling stations counted into the early hours of Monday morning, there were signs the NLD was set for a convincing victory. Htay Oo, the acting chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development party, conceded that his party had lost more seats than it gained. “We have a higher percentage of losses than wins,” he said. “The results are not yet official but we accept any outcome,” he added.
House speaker and former ruling party chair Shwe Mann conceded defeat in the central Bago region. Other districts showed NLD gains although it was hard to tell if they represented the rest of the country.
The official Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper ran its Monday headline as “Dawn of a New Era” and said turnout was estimated at 70%, with 30 million eligible voters.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past quarter-century under house arrest, is barred from the presidency by a junta-drafted constitution.
A key concern, that the army generals would annul the vote as they did when the Nobel peace prize laureate won a landslide in 1990, was rebuffed in the capital, Naypyidaw, where military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing said there was “no reason not to accept the election results”, according to state media.
Labelled an “outpost of tyranny” by the US only 10 years ago, Myanmar has carried out reforms, releasing most political prisoners and allowing an independent press to operate. However, elections in 2010, in which current president Thein Sein came to power, were widely dismissed as a sham.
Yet concerns over fairness were raised ahead of election day, with an estimated 4 million Burmese living abroad unable to vote and the exclusion of around a million Rohingya Muslims, a stateless and persecuted minority.
The army has also enshrined its power in the constitution – reserving 25% of parliament seats – keeping the most powerful ministerial portfolios and banning Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency as she has foreign family members. Her late husband was a British academic and she has two British sons. Pinterest
Many in the country are worried about the post-election period, when Aung San Suu Kyi — who boldly announced last week she would be “above the president” — will negotiate power-sharing with the military.
Thai security forces along the Myanmar border, where multiple ethnic conflicts have raged, have been put on alert in preparation for violence following the election, the Bangkok Post reported in neighbouring Thailand.
Polls were cancelled in nearly 600 village areas, mostly in the conflict-affected states of Kachin and Shan, the election commission said, adding that a lack of security would not allow for transparent polling.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said in a statement that the election was an important step forward, but added it was “far from perfect”.
“A peaceful post-election period is crucial for stability and maintaining the confidence of the people in the credibility of the electoral process and the overall political transition,” he said.People stand in line at a polling station in North Okkalapa near Yangon on Sunday. Photograph: ZUMA Wire/REX Shutterstock
As the army is guaranteed blocs in parliament, the NLD must take 67% of all contested seats in order to gain a majority. If the party succeeds and forms a government, it will be the first democratically elected administration since the early 1960s.
Aung San Suu Kyi has promised to amend a constitution she has denounced as “very silly”.
The incumbent USDP would need far fewer seats as it is backed by the military. Ninety-one parties have contested the election in a country of about 51 million people.
