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Aung San Suu Kyi hints at victory in Myanmar poll

By FnF Desk | PUBLISHED: 09, Nov 2015, 15:16 pm IST | UPDATED: 10, Nov 2015, 16:51 pm IST

Aung San Suu Kyi hints at victory in Myanmar poll Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has hinted at victory in Myanmar's first free elections for decades despite an unexpected delay in the release of the results.

In her first comments after Sunday’s elections, she told a crowd gathered at the National League for Democracy (NLD) party headquarters in Yangon that the results would not be announced as soon as had been expected, “but I think you all have the idea of the results”.

“It is still a bit early to congratulate our candidates who will be the winners,” she said. “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.”

An NLD spokesman said it was on course to win more than 70% of seats in parliament, enough to form a government, though the election commission has yet to announce any official results. It had been due to reveal preliminary results at 9am on Monday morning but has delayed until the afternoon.

The Union Election Commission said its chairman would give a media conference at 3pm local time (0830 GMT) with results announced at 6pm. The final tally is expected on Tuesday.

A big crowd of supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party had gathered on Sunday evening at the group’s headquarters in Yangon, formerly Rangoon under the British empire, to cheer, dance and wave red flags.

As many polling stations counted into the early hours of Monday morning, there were signs that the NLD was set for a convincing victory.

Htay Oo, the acting chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development party, conceded that his party had lost more seats than it gained. “We have a higher percentage of losses than wins,” he said. “The results are not yet official but we accept any outcome,” he added.

House speaker and former ruling party chair Shwe Mann conceded defeat in the central Bago region. Other districts showed NLD gains although it was hard to tell if they represented the rest of the country.

The official Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper ran its Monday headline as “Dawn of a New Era” and said turnout was estimated at 70%, with 30 million eligible voters.

“We’re leading the race but we can’t say for sure we’ll win two-thirds of the seats in parliament. That would enable us to form an independent government without forming a coalition,” said NLD senior official and spokesman Han Tha Myint.

The once-outlawed NLD is expected to win the popular vote, although Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent much of the past quarter-century under house arrest, is barred from the presidency by a junta-drafted constitution.

Yet a key concern, that the army generals would annul the vote as they did when the Nobel peace prize laureate won a landslide in 1990, was rebuffed in the capital, Naypyidaw, where military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing said there was “no reason not to accept the election results”, according to state media.

Labelled an “outpost of tyranny” by the US only 10 years ago, Myanmar has reformed by releasing most political prisoners and allowing an independent press to operate. Although elections in 2010, which saw current president Thein Sein come to power, were widely dismissed as a sham.

The 2015 polls were observed by around 10,000 election monitors, including many from the European Union and United Nations, and early indications from monitors suggested a largely transparent process.

Yet the main concerns over fairness were raised ahead of election day, with an estimated 4 million Burmese living abroad unable to vote and the exclusion of around a million Rohingya Muslims, a stateless and persecuted minority.

The army has also enshrined its power in the constitution – reserving 25% of parliament seats – keeping the most powerful ministerial portfolios and banning Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency as she has foreign family members. Her late husband was a British academic and she has two British sons.

Jason Carter, grandson of former US president Jimmy Carter and an international election observer, said monitors would release a full evaluation “including the political context in which this election is occurring” on Tuesday.

Many in the country are worried about the post-election period, when Aung San Suu Kyi — who boldly announced last week she would be “above the president” — will negotiate power-sharing with the military.
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Thai security forces along the Myanmar border, where multiple ethnic conflicts have raged, have been put on alert in preparation for violence following the election, the Bangkok Post reported in neighbouring Thailand.

Polls were cancelled in nearly 600 village areas, mostly in the conflict-affected states of Kachin and Shan, the election commission said, adding that a lack of security would not allow for transparent polling.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said in a statement that the election was an important step forward, but added it was “far from perfect”.

“A peaceful post-election period is crucial for stability and maintaining the confidence of the people in the credibility of the electoral process and the overall political transition,” he said.

As the army is guaranteed blocs in parliament, the NLD must take 67% of all contested seats in order to gain a majority. If the party does that and forms a government, it will be the first democratically elected one since the early 1960s.

Aung San Suu Kyi has promised to amend a constitution she has denounced as “very silly”.

The incumbent USDP would need far fewer seats as it is backed by of the military. Some 91 parties have contested the election in a country of around 51 million people.