Suu Kyi repeats history after 25 years

Naypyidaw:: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is on track for a repeat of its 1990 landslide election victory with results from more than 20 percent of all seats officially declared.

According to the Myanmar Times, the Union Election Commission declared a set of results at 3 p.m. that showed that the NLD had won 220 out of 252. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party was on 17, while five ethnic minority parties totalled 15 seats between them.

NLD senior member and party spokesperson U Win Htein told The Myanmar Times that the NLD believed that it had won 82 percent of townships across the country.

Considering that 25 percent of unelected parliamentary seats were allocated to the military, the NLD is on track to have a comfortable absolute majority that would secure its candidates for president and one of the two vice president’s positions.

The military bloc would get the position of the second vice-president.

The NLD also accused the government election panel today of intentionally delaying results.

The surprising accusation by the National League for Democracy adds a worrying twist to what has so far been an amicable election, where the ruling party appeared to be taking its expected loss gracefully.

The accusation raises concern about the intentions of the ruling party, which is beholden to the military that had ruled the country with an iron-grip from 1962 until 2011. Since then, the country has been governed by the Union Solidarity Development Party, made up former junta members led by President Thein Sein. (ANI)