A new dawn in Myanmar: cause for great celebration

Burma’s combined houses of parliament are made up of 664 seats, but elections were not held in seven constituencies, meaning a simple majority could be reached with 329 seats.

The ruling pro, in comparison which is military Union Solidarity and Development Party has won 40 seats, latest results Friday afternoon shown.

The parliament will elect a president by March next year.

Asked by ucanews.com whether his party would vote for the NLD-selected presidential candidate, Tu Ja said it likely had “no other options”.

The constitution allows parliament to select the country’s president, giving the NLD, which under Suu Kyi has led the fight for democratic reforms, significant powers in a government that remains heavily controlled by the military.

It is nearly certain now that the National League for Democracy (NLD) will have a landslide victory in the election. Its lack of experience in public administration is another big question mark.

The landmark election is seen as a test of the powerful military’s willingness to let the country continue along a path toward full democracy, after decades of military-dominated rule in Myanmar, also known as Burma. She was under house arrest when she won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

Few expect the army to throw up that kind of roadblock again. Under the constitution, drafted by the former junta regime in 2008, 25 percent of seats in both houses are reserved for military appointees.

A major issue for the NLD will be how to deal with the country’s fractious ethnic minorities, who for decades have been conducting on-again, off-again insurgencies seeking greater autonomy. But I think we need to scrub that list because there are many people on it who are holdovers from the days of military government.

Earlier USA president Barack Obama congratulated Ms Suu Kyi for the success of her opposition party in Myanmar’s historic elections. “He will act in accordance with the decisions of the party”, said Suu Kyi in an interview with Channel News Asia, adding that the president would be “told exactly what he can do”.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, released a statement which said: “These landmark elections are an important step towards democracy in Burma and a triumph for Burmese people, who have clearly voiced their desire for change”. The final vote for president will be done by the parliament as a whole, so the NLD’s choice of president will win. The election Sunday, with an 80 percent voter turnout, was an indication her country is ready for her.

“Her party’s sweep was so thorough that one candidate who died before the vote still defeated his ruling-party rival”, The NY Times noted. “The generals’ new strategy of political reforms and freeing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest has helped to get the sanctions off, even as the military retains an outsized influence in politics”.

The parliamentary poll results signified that the NLD can lead not only in the central Union parliament and central Union government, but also in the Region or State parliaments and the Region or State governments.