Myanmar: Suu Kyi’s NLD wins majority

With the tally still being counted, the panel said today that Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party has won 15 more seats, pushing it over the threshold it needed of 329 seats for a majority in the 664-member, two-house parliament. Suu Kyi was arrested and forced her to stay in her house and not have any visitors.

The junta offered to end her imprisonment at any time if she left the country for good but Suu Kyi refused.

Mahn Johnny, a Catholic member of the National League for Democracy, said his party’s landslide victory, including in many ethnic areas, showed that the country demanded change after more than five decades of rule by a harsh military regime.

“I promise everybody who is living in this country proper protection in accordance with the law, and in accordance with the norms of human rights”, she said. The full results – almost 20 percent of seats have yet to be announced – are expected in the coming days and the NLD’s majority is likely to rise yet further.

Suu Kyi returned to Myanmar from the U.K.in 1988 to care for her ailing mother.

Obama and Ban also praised Thein Sein for successfully staging the historic poll, with the United Nations chief acknowledging his “courage and vision” to organise an election in which the ruling camp was trounced. He will meet President Thein Sein, among other regional leaders, during a trip to Asia this month.

In Yangon there were no immediate signs of celebration after Ms Suu Kyi urged restraint from supporters, aware of the threat of a backlash in a country where the army’s writ remains large.

It was widely seen as a fair vote though there were reports of irregularities, and hundreds of thousands of people – including the Muslim Rohingya minority, who are not recognised as citizens – were denied voting rights.

“The president commended her for her tireless efforts and sacrifice over so many years to promote a more inclusive, peaceful and democratic Burma”, the White House said in a statement, using the former name for the Asian country.

It installed retired senior officers in the ruling party to fill Cabinet posts and gave itself key powers in the constitution, including control of several powerful ministries and a quarter of the seats in both houses of Parliament.

It signifies that NLD cannot only lead the central Union Parliament and central Union Government but also lead in Region or State Parliament and the Region or State Government. The victor becomes president, the runner-up is first vice president and the third placed becomes number two vice president.

After a process of parliament being seated and a president being appointed, Rhodes said “at a few point, it will be up to that new parliament and to those leaders to make determinations about the reform and the constitution”.