Myanmar’s opposition claimed a historic victory yesterday for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her first bid for a seat in Parliament, sparking scenes of jubilation among supporters.
Unlike in 2012, foreign observers and journalists were allowed by the government to witness yesterday’s polls.
Thousands of people clapped and cheered outside Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters in Yangon after the party announced the Nobel Peace Prize laureate had won a parliamentary seat after by-elections.
Some people danced in the street while others wept with joy at the news, which if confirmed would mark a stunning turnaround for the former political prisoner, who was locked up by the former junta for most of the past 22 years.
“We have been waiting for this day for a long time. I’m so happy,” said NLD supporter Kalyar, who goes by one name.
Suu Kyi won an estimated 99 per cent of the votes in Kawhmu constituency, according to NLD official Soe Win, based on the party’s own tally. There was no independent confirmation and official results are expected within a week.
The party also claimed it was on course to win all 44 seats it contested in yesterday’s by-elections, in which a total of 45 seats were at stake – not enough to threaten the army-backed ruling party’s huge majority in Parliament.
The seats being contested yesterday were made vacant by MPs who joined the government. The next general election is due in 2015.
After almost half a century of military rule, the junta in March last year handed power to a new government led by President Thein Sein, one of a clutch of former generals who shed their uniforms to contest the 2010 poll.
Since then, the regime has surprised even its critics with a string of reforms such as releasing hundreds of political prisoners.
But remaining political detainees, fighting between government troops and ethnic rebels, and alleged human rights abuses remain major concerns for Western nations which have imposed sanctions on the regime.
Unlike in 2010, the government allowed foreign observers and journalists to witness yesterday’s polls. More than six million people were eligible to vote.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Istanbul for a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group, said Washington was committed to supporting the nascent reforms in Myanmar that have been cautiously welcomed by the West. Observers believe Myanmar’s new quasi-civilian government wanted Suu Kyi to win a place in parliament to burnish its reform credentials and smooth the way for an easing of Western sanctions.
A European Union official invited to observe the vote hailed “very encouraging” signs at the roughly dozen polling stations her team visited.
“However, that’s definitely not enough to assume that it is indicative of how the process was conducted in other parts of the country and certainly not enough to talk about credibility of elections,” Malgorzata Wasilewska said.