Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
A spokesman for NLD (Opposition National League for Democracy) leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party has told supporters Monday it is heading towards a landslide victory in Myanmar’s first free and fair elections in 25 years.
“We are winning more than 70% of seats around the country, but the election commission has not officially confirmed yet,” said NLD spokesman Win Htein.
Ms Suu Kyi has urged her supporters not to provoke their rivals. The 70-year-old Nobel laureate told jubilant members of her National League for Democracy on Monday that official results won’t be announced soon “but I think you all have the idea of the results”.
Scrutineers say Ms Suu Kyi won up to 90% of votes in some main city electorates, decimating the ruling military-backed party.
“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,” Ms Suu Kyi said in her first public comments since polls closed on Sunday.
“It is still a bit early to congratulate our candidates who will be the winners.”
Ms Suu Kyi’s supporters were jubilant on Monday even though she filed a complaint saying a change in procedure by the country’s election commission could delay results and “violates the law”.
Party officials said there were “worrying signs” of large numbers of “advance votes” arriving unexpectedly in some constituencies late on Sunday night and early on Monday.
But as election officials began releasing results of vote counts across the country, the NLD emerged as the party with the largest number of parliamentary seats, allowing Ms Suu Kyi to shape the formation of the next government.
“We’re leading in 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,” NLD senior official and spokesman Han Tha Myint said.
The NLD needs a landslide of 67% of contested seats to secure a majority in Myanmar’s parliament, as 25% of seats are automatically allocated to the country’s powerful military.
