News Karnataka
Friday, March 29 2024
Cricket
World

Myanmar awaits results of landmark election

Photo Credit :

Myanmar: People in Myanmar are awaiting the results of the first openly contested national election in 25 years.Votes are still being counted, and preliminary results are now not expected until Monday evening.
But Aung San Suu Kyi has hinted at victory for her National League for Democracy (NLD), saying: “I think you all have the idea of the results.”

The military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) has been in power since 2011.

If the NLD wins, it would end decades of military control.

Suu Kyi was speaking to reporters at the NLD’s headquarters in Yangon. She also said “it is still a bit early to congratulate our candidates who will be the winners”.

In one of the earliest and most significant known results, the ruling party’s Shwe Mann, who is speaker of the lower house of parliament, conceded defeat in his constituency to the NLD candidate.

Tens of thousands of officials and volunteers have been counting the votes, first in each of the 50,000 polling stations, then tallying them in constituency offices of the Election Commission.

The results will not be known for at least a few days, and the president will only be chosen in February or possibly later.

International observers say the voting process was generally smooth, with some isolated irregularities.

And hundreds of thousands of people – including minority Rohingya Muslims – were also denied voting rights, raising concerns about the fairness of the poll.

US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the elections as a step towards democracy, but added that they were far from perfect.

After the euphoria of a historic election day, now the potentially fractious count.

Already, the opposition NLD is complaining about the way large numbers of votes cast in advance of polling day were brought into the count late, apparently favouring the incumbent USDP.

The Election Commission has also delayed its first official announcement by several hours, although this is probably down to predictable logistical challenges.

Human rights groups have already criticised the Election Commission’s lack of independence. Election monitors have raised concerns over the absence of agreed procedures for resolving disputed results.

So a number of big questions still hang over this momentous turning point for Myanmar.

Will the official results give Aung San Suu Kyi’s party the two-thirds of contested seats it needs to form the next government? If they don’t, will she accept the result? Her supporters are already convinced they must have won.

Will the inevitable flaws in the electoral process be deemed small enough not to have compromised the result?

And how will Ms Suu Kyi and the military, historic foes, manage the protracted negotiations which must precede the formation of the next government whatever the election result?
Vast turnout

About 30 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday’s election in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

Turnout has been estimated at about 80%, in what were the first national elections since a nominally civilian government took power in 2011.

More than 6,000 candidates from more than 90 parties were vying for parliamentary seats.

A quarter of seats are reserved for unelected military representatives, who are expected to side with the USDP.

The NLD, led by former political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, therefore needs to win 67% of contested seats in order to gain a majority and be able to appoint the president.

“I’m really happy because from what I heard the NLD is winning. I couldn’t sleep until 11 or 12 because I was looking everywhere for results,” San Win, a 40-year-old newspaper vendor told the AP news agency.

Suu Kyi cannot become president herself, because of a clause in the constitution which bars anyone with foreign children from holding the post. Her two sons, with her late husband, are British.

Despite this, she has insisted she will lead the country and be “above the president” if the NLD takes power.

Current President Thein Sein has said he will accept the election result.

Share this:
MANY DROPS MAKE AN OCEAN
Support NewsKarnataka's quality independent journalism with a small contribution.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

To get the latest news on WhatsApp