Myanmar Election Panel Says Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party Won Majority

Aung San Suu Kyi has won Myanmar’s landmark election and claimed a staggering majority in parliament, ending half a century of dominance by the military and providing the symbol of a decades-old democracy movement with a mandate to rule.

Announcing the results on Friday, the fifth day of the vote-count, the Union Election Commission (UEC) said NLD had so far won 238 of the 330 contested seats in the 440-member Lower House while 110 of its nominees had been declared elected on 168 contested seats in the 224-member Upper House of parliament.

China on Thursday avoided congratulating Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi for her party’s landslide election victory which has the potential to strain ties with Beijing.

He would rather be a writer than an MP, but has turned his hand to politics as part of a wave of untested new lawmakers to help Suu Kyi and her party negotiate the dicey months and years ahead. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party had 28 seats.

The NLD will now be able to elect both the president and one of two vice presidents in an electoral college formed of new MPs early next year.

U.S. president Barack Obama called Suu Kyi to congratulate her and her party’s successful campaign and also spoke to president Thein Sein to commend him on the historic polls, the White House said.

Ms Suu Kyi, 70, is barred from the presidency by the military-scripted constitution, but has already vowed to govern from “above the president” saying she will circumnavigate the charter by backing a proxy to run for the top office. She was under house arrest when she won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, and was freed most recently exactly five years ago.

It is hard to understand that, before the election, Suu Kyi said she would take a position “above the president” if the NLD triumphed. He also called Thein Sein to praise Myanmar’s government “for their work with political parties, civil society, and the media to overcome the significant challenges in organizing and conducting the election”. The election Sunday, with an 80 percent voter turnout, was an indication her country is ready for her. Suu Kyi issued an invitation Wednesday for a meeting with the commander, along with President Thein Sein and House Speaker Shwe Mann.

– 49: The number of years Myanmar was ruled by a military junta, until the army ceded power in 2011 to a quasi-civilian government led by retired generals.

While the army has not conceded defeat for the ruling USDP party, it has acknowledged the massive success of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in Sunday’s election, and pledged it will respect the final results.

The constitution also gives the military control over the defense, border affairs, and home affairs ministries. And in a state of emergency, it allows a special military-led body to assume sweeping state powers.