Suu Kyi party inches closer to Myanmar election victory
Despite apparent sweep by pro-democracy faction, presidency technically out of reach for reformist leader, who declares she may act as ‘de-facto leader’
Power beckoned for Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy movement Wednesday as it continued its blitz of ruling party bases and sat poised to reset the balance of power in army-dominated Myanmar.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) took 56 of the 61 lower house seats announced on Wednesday as it continued to sweep towards a landslide.
The latest results mean the NLD has claimed nearly 90 percent of contested seats declared so far in the upper and lower houses of parliament, indicating it is well on the way to the majority needed to form a government.
Suu Kyi, the democracy movement’s magnetic force, secured tens of thousands of votes to retain her seat in Kawhmu constituency.
While a win of that magnitude virtually assures the National League for Democracy of electing the president as well, Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president by a constitutional hurdle inserted by the junta when it transferred power in 2011 to a quasi-civilian government. Still, she recently has declared that she will be the country’s de facto leader, acting “above the president,” if her party forms the next government.
In an interview on Tuesday with Singapore’s Channel News Asia television, Suu Kyi reiterated that plan.
“I make all the decisions because I’m the leader of the winning party. And the president will be one whom we will choose just in order to meet the requirements of the constitution,” she said. “He (the president) will have to understand this perfectly well that he will have no authority. That he will act in accordance with the positions of the party.”
Despite the deluge of results in their favor, election officials have resisted pressure to declare the NLD winners.
That has brought frustration to NLD supporters, many of whom have waited 25 years since the party last contested a poll to cast a ballot in their favor.
“We know we won 80 percent… hopefully we will get confirmation today,” said Ko Ko, who runs an air-conditioning company in Yangon.
“We expect Daw Suu to change the country… I voted for change.”
Anxiety is heightened by the memory of an NLD election landslide in 1990.
The army simply swatted away that result and tightened its grip on the country, jailing dissidents and confining Suu Kyi to house arrest.
On Thursday Suu Kyi said she expected to reach a majority, but urged her supporters to refrain from celebrating until the final result is announced.
Ruling party in tatters
Sunday’s election has left the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in tatters.
It has taken just a handful of seats so far, with several party heavyweights being bundled out off their constituencies by voters.
Before the landmark poll President Thein Sein vowed his party — and the powerful army — would respect the result.
“These were free and fair elections,” his spokesman Zaw Htay told AFP on Wednesday.
“We are waiting for the (official) results,” he added when asked if the president would formally concede defeat.
Stacked with former military men, the USDP has led a quasi-civilian government since 2011.
The party says it has guided the country through the major economic and social reforms that led to Sunday’s election, which saw 80 percent voter turnout.
Its critics condemn it as a stooge of the army, which ruled as a junta for half a century.
The army is automatically given 25 percent of all parliamentary seats under a constitution scripted to ensure its stake in the future.
The charter also bans Suu Kyi from the presidency and hands the military key security posts.
Suu Kyi, however, has vowed to rule from “above the president”, indicating she will use a proxy to sidestep the bar on her reaching top office.
The NLD needs 67 percent of the contested seats to form a government without coalition partners.
A bigger winning margin gives it a stronger hand in parliament with political wrangling ahead.
