Burma opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi headed toward landslide victory
RANGOON, Burma — The party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was headed for a landslide victory Monday that could give it the presidency and loosen the military's grip on power in Burma.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) claimed it won nearly every parliamentary seat in four states where results were known from Sunday's historic vote, the nation's first contested national elections in 25 years. The same trend was expected in Burma's remaining 10 states, the Associated Press reported.
Although votes continued to be counted, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, which is backed by the military, was facing a rout. "We lost," party leader Htay Oo told Reuters.
The Union Solidarity party came into power in the 2010 elections, marking the end of a half-century of control by a military junta and the installation of a quasi-civilian government.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the NLD headquarters Monday night to celebrate, as the crowd waved red flags, shouted slogans and sang campaign songs. Roars went up as new returns favoring the NLD were announced.
"There's never been anything like this," said taxi driver Aung Aung, 27. "People are so happy because we needed to change."
If the landslide victory holds, Suu Kyi's party will have a majority of seats in parliament and will be able to name its own president in a process that takes a few months.
Suu Kyi, 70, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, spent decades trying to bring democracy to Burma, also known as Myanmar, including 15 years under house arrest for defying the nation's military rulers. She was released in 2010.
Suu Kyi has already announced that her party has a candidate for president in place, but the person's identity has not been revealed. Suu Kyi, who could be named speaker of the lower house of parliament, is barred from becoming president because of a clause added to the constitution that excludes anyone with close foreign relatives from holding the high office. Suu Kyi's late husband was a British national, and she has two British sons.
Still, Suu Kyi frequently said that if her party wins, she would run the country in a role "above the president." At a news conference last week, she said that means another person would hold the title of president, but she would "make all the proper and important decisions with regard to the government."
While an NLD victory is a severe rebuke to the military-aligned ruling party, the military will still play a central role in Burma. It will control 25% of the seats in parliament and retain veto power over any constitutional changes, which require more than 75% of the votes. The military also controls key ministries, such as defense, interior and police and has broad latitude to act in matters of national security.
One big question is whether Suu Kyi and her party could win any support from the military bloc in parliament, a group that has always acted in lockstep on issues of political reform. She said in the past that she is looking for "one brave soldier" to side with civilian members of parliament to enact sweeping constitutional changes — including reforms that would allow her to become president.
Once the glow of an election victory wears off, Suu Kyi's party will face a very different challenge: actually governing the country, instead of being the opposition. The NLD will be limited in its ability to make major overhauls, said Evan Rees, Southeast Asia analyst for Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence and advisory firm based in Austin.
Burma has deep-rooted ethnic and religious tensions, and the economy is still controlled by cronies of the former military regime, he said.
"The NLD is probably going into the hardest period of existence at this point," Rees said. "They have to go from being this opposition voice to a party that needs to try to actually effect change."
But for Kyi Win, 70, who was wearing a shirt with Suu Kyi's face on it, the projected election result was "an amazing victory."
"This is more than I expected. We've been waiting for 50 years. This victory is for the future of our country. The future will be bright for the young generation," he said.