NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar, Nov. 9 (UPI) — Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is seeing its first parliamentary victory as early results are declared in Myanmar’s historic elections.
Although determining the full results of the election may take several days, Myanmar’s election commission released the first official results Monday afternoon with 12 parliamentary seats in the Yangon region going to Suu Kyi’s NLD.
Millions of people voted on Sunday in Myanmar’s first openly contested national election in 25 years after decades of military rule, where Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi’s party was expected to win most parliamentary seats.
Several members of the ruling, military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party conceded defeat after the vote, including Shwe Mann, a former general who previously served as speaker of parliament for the USDP, and Htay Oo, current USDP chairman.
“We won in some regions, states and divisions, but also lost in some others,” Oo told a local television station. “We have higher percentage of losses than wins.”
There are about 30 million eligible voters in Myanmar’s election out of an overall population of nearly 54 million. Many lined up to cast votes before poll stations opened at 6 a.m. and demand was so high that some polls’ open hours were extended past the 4 p.m. deadline.
Voter turnout was expected to be 80 percent. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy needed 67 percent of all contested parliamentary seats to gain a majority.
At least 100,000 people were denied voting rights, including minority Rohingya Muslims, leading to questions over the fairness of the election.
There were more than 6,000 candidates representing 90 different parties for Myanmar’s 664-seat parliament. The USDP, backed by the military junta, has been in power since 2011. A quarter of parliamentary seats are reserved for unelected military representatives, who were expected to side with the USDP.
Suu Kyi, 70, whose children are British, is banned from Myanmar’s presidency as the constitution prohibits anyone with foreign offspring from the post.
In a press conference on Thursday, Suu Kyi said if her party wins the majority of seats in parliament, she will govern the country anyway.
“I’m going to be above the president,” Suu Kyi said. “I have already made plans.”
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