Aung San Suu Kyi Attends Parliament After NLD Landslide

Public opinion in Myanmar also turned increasingly bitter towards China’s plundering of their natural wealth and its exploitation of ethnic minority resentments to sustain hegemony.

Addressing representatives of almost 90 political parties, many of which were trounced by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, the Myanmar leader said elections are the “duty” of a democratic nation. The election was historic, as it was the first free election in 25 years.

The NLD has secured 389 seats as absolute majority in the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the House of Nationalities (Upper House), robust sufficient to type a brand new unbiased authorities, Xinhua reported.

The landslide victory came after a long, uphill struggle.

The NLD on Monday invited all MPs elected in last week’s vote to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi for a discussion on reforms the party is pursuing, NLD central committee member and lawmaker Win Htein told RFA’s Myanmar Service. In other words, the NLD wants assurances from the President and the military chief for a peaceful transition.

But to rule she will have to foster a relationship with the country’s military elites, who continue to hold significant political and economic power despite reforms under a quasi-civilian regime that replaced junta rule in 2011. The immediate challenge facing Myanmar will be the formation of a new government of national unity and reconciliation over the next few months.

Thein Sein also pledged to “send invitations for the convening of the second parliament” in accordance with “established procedures”, although he did not specify when that would be.

The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was created by the junta and is led by retired soldiers, has conceded defeat in a poll that was a milestone on Myanmar’s rocky path from dictatorship to democracy.

The stunning comeback for Ms Suu Kyi, who was robbed of a similar win in 1990 and, subsequently, subjected to 15 years of imprisonment and harsh crackdowns on her party by the country’s military rulers, has evoked relief and satisfaction in a naturally sympathetic India. Parties have campaigned amidst sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

He has said that would require concluding ceasefires and peace deals with all of Myanmar’s many ethnic armed groups.

Several chapters of the 2008 constitution prevents Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, an example being chapter 3 which states that the president must be someone who “he himself, one of the parents, the spouse, one of the legitimate children or their spouses not owe allegiance to a foreign power”.

It was only on Friday – five days after the poll – that the NLD finally won the two-thirds majority it needs to form the next government.

At a time when wild jubilation is taking place all over Myanmar and accolades are being heaped on the Nobel laureate, the lady, as she is called in the length and breadth of Myanmar, has played her cards adroitly, knowing fully well that in spite of the massive numerical superiority in parliament she is hamstrung by the Myanmar army’s constitutional status.

“This is nothing compared to running the whole government”.

The armed forces commander, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and President Thein Sein have been unambiguous in their endorsements of the NLD victory.

Suu Kyi is a seasoned and astute politician.