Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Hints at Election Win

“We’re seeing initial reports of results, but we encourage everyone to wait for the Union Election Commission’s official results”, he said.

Capturing the presidency and parliament would give the NLD power over legislation, economic policy and foreign relations, although the constitution guarantees that the military will keep control of the ministries of defence, interior and border security.

In what has been seen as a direct challenge to the power of the generals, Suu Kyi has vowed that if her party wins the election, she will run the country from a position “above the president” after appointing a puppet to the position.

The ruling party in Myanmar has admitted defeat to the opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a historic election for the struggling democracy. It was the first time even for Suu Kyi, the epitome of the democracy movement who defied the junta for decades. The party said it was “illogical” that the USDP could win 90 percent of advance votes – made by those unable to vote on election day – in Lashio, a township in the east of the country with a large military presence.

The NLD captured 12 seats from the Yangon region in the House of Representatives – the 440-seat lower house of Myanmar’s bicameral legislature where 330 members are directly elected while 110 are appointed by the Myanmar Armed Forces. The news may come as a blow to Myanmar’s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) which only secured one regional seat in Yangon.

Earlier a smiling Suu Kyi appeared on the balcony of the NLD’s headquarters in Yangon and in a brief address urged supporters to be patient and wait for the official results. “I think she is a flawless leader for our country and a woman of perfection”.

“It’s the first time that most people in the country will have an opportunity to vote for the main Opposition party”, said Richard Horsey, an independent Myanmar analyst.

She added: ‘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’. Her party also won the last free elections held in 1990, but the results were annulled by the military and she was detained under house arrest and remained there for much of the next 20 years.

The poll was the first credible vote in a quarter of a century in the military-ruled country formerly known as Burma.

People line up outside a Buddhist prayer hall to vote during the general election in Mandalay, Myanmar, November 8, 2015.

“Now our expectation is that the military and political leaders of Burma are going to have to listen”, he told reporters, calling for a peaceful transition to a new government.