bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Official results released on Friday showed Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party secured an absolute majority in an election that was disputed by Myanmar’s military-aligned opposition and criticised by rights groups.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) had already declared a landslide victory based on its own tallies, prompting street celebrations by supporters.
But official figures were still being returned five days after the ballot, only the second such polls since the nation emerged from outright military rule in 2011.
Results announced by the election commission on Friday showed the NLD had won 346 seats – more than 50 per cent of parliament, even taking into account the quarter of seats reserved for the military under the constitution.
Myanmar’s ruling party claims election victory from unofficial count
The party is on track to improve on its landslide win in 2015, despite widespread disillusion in many ethnic-minority areas.
“People clearly realised the need for the NLD to get enough votes to form a government on their own,” said NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt, adding this would help “minimise political conflict”.
The military-aligned opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was trounced across the country, winning just 25 seats by Friday.
The party alleges the vote was neither free nor fair and is demanding that the Union Election Commission (UEC) step down and polls be rerun.
Yangon-based analyst Khin Zaw Win warned the coming months will be messy, and the situation was a consequence of the UEC being filled with “yes-men and incompetents”.
Under the constitution, the government appoints all commission members.

But even if some results were overturned, “the NLD landslide is so large that they wouldn’t alter the overall outcome”, said Richard Horsey from the International Crisis Group.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already tweeted his congratulations to Suu Kyi, writing he looked forward to strengthening the neighbours’ “traditional bonds of friendship”.

Congratulations to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi & NLD for victory in the elections. The successful conduct of polls is another step in the ongoing democratic transition in Myanmar. I look forward to continuing to work with you to strengthen our traditional bonds of friendship. @MyanmarSC
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 12, 2020

Observers have widely concluded that voting took place smoothly on the day, despite forecasts of a low turnout due to a recent surge of coronavirus cases.
But they condemned what they described as the election commission’s lack of transparency and its cancellation of the polls across many ethnic minority areas – ostensibly for security reasons.
The move left 1.5 million voters disenfranchised and sparked grievances in already restive areas that the playing field had been tilted in favour of the NLD.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi set to win in coronavirus-hit ‘apartheid’ election
Some will conclude the electoral process does not work for them and choose “political insurrection or insurgency instead”, warned Horsey.
Rights groups have also condemned the vote, which left virtually all Rohingya Muslims disenfranchised, either languishing in Bangladeshi refugee camps or stripped of citizenship in Myanmar.
Even though Suu Kyi’s international reputation was badly hurt over the Rohingya crisis – for which the country now faces charges of genocide – she remains widely revered within Myanmar.


Malaysia’s engagement with Myanmar is a smart move for Asean

Thailand, criticised over Bangkok building collapse, to test mobile alerts

UN experts to assess Hong Kong’s rescue team for accreditation next year

Southeast Asia’s scam gangs go global as crackdown bites

Myanmar

Myanmar election: Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling NLD wins absolute majority

Observers said voting in Myanmar’s election, which saw a strong win for Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party, was smooth on the day, despite concerns about the election commission’s lack of transparency and its cancellation of the polls across many ethnic minority areas. Photo: Reuters

Supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party celebrate in front of the party's headquarters in Yangon on November 9, 2020, as NLD officials said they were confident of a landslide victory in the weekend's election. (Photo by Ye Aung THU / AFP)

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi forecast to triumph in coronavirus-hit ‘apartheid’ election

People wearing face shields, face masks and rubber gloves to prevent the spread of the coronavirus wait to vote during the elections at a polling station in Yangon on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Poll workers in Myanmar began counting votes on Sunday in an election criticized by rights groups and widely expected to see the party of Aung San Suu Kyi win another five-year term. Herem she is seen arriving at an ASEM meeting in Naypyidaw.

Myanmar’s fugitive ‘Buddhist Bin Laden’ monk gives himself up, a week before election

Fugitive Buddhist nationalist monk Wirathu hands himself in at a police station in Yangon, Myanmar, on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Buddhist monk Wirathu, second left, walks with his followers upon his arrival at a police station in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday Nov. 2, 2020. Wirathu, a nationalist Buddhist monk in Myanmar noted for his inflammatory rhetoric, has surrendered to police, who have been seeking his arrest for over a year for insulting comments he made about the country’s leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

epaselect epa08792651 Myanmar nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu (C) arrives outside the Yangon western district police station, Yangon, Myanmar, 02 November 2020. Wirathu, who has been on the run since May 2019, surrendered himself to police on 02 November. Yangon Western District Court on 28 May 2019 had issued an arrest warrant against him under sedition laws article 124(a) for his attempts to excite disaffection towards the government, a crime carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. EPA-EFE/LYNN BO BO

Myanmar election: Arakan Army militant group admits abducting three NLD candidates

Supporters of National League for Democracy (NLD) party take part an election campaign rally in Yangon. Myanmar will hold its general election on November 8. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa08754583 A person stands beside his trishaw, which is decorated with National League for Democracy (NLD) party flags, during campaigning in Yangon, Myanmar, 18 October 2020. Myanmar scheduled to hold general elections on 08 November. EPA-EFE/NYEIN CHAN NAING

Could Chinese investments cost Suu Kyi the Myanmar election?

Protesters in Myanmar demonstrate against the Myitsone Dam project during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: AFP

A graffiti is seen on a stone at the confluence of the Mali and Nmai river at Myitsone, outside Myitkyina, capital city of Kachin state, Myanmar March 30, 2017. Picture taken on March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun To match Exclusve CHINA-SILKROAD/MYANMAR-DAM

FILE PHOTO:Chinese President Xi Jinping and Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi shake hands at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar January 17, 2020. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File photo

epa08381130 Myanmar soldiers carry medical aid, provided by China, at the Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar, 24 April 2020. A medical team from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) arrived Yangon to cooperate with Myanmar military medical team in the prevention and control the COVID-19 and coronavirus. EPA-EFE/NYEIN CHAN NAING

Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi speaks during a joint press conference with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP)

Covid, conflicts, Rohingya: is Suu Kyi really a sure bet in Myanmar election?

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: AP

Workers print a flag with the logo of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy NLD party at a printing house as election campaigns kick-off in Yangon, Myanmar, September 7, 2020.Picture taken September 7, 2020. REUTERS/Shwe Paw Mya Tin NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

epa08619673 A man wearing protective face mask with the images of Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and logo of her party, National League for Democracy- NLD, sells party flags among vehicles near a traffic light in Yangon, Myanmar, 23 August 2020. Myanmar scheduled to hold its general election on 08 November 2020. Both Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint will be running again. EPA-EFE/LYNN BO BO

A supporter of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party gives thumbs up from his car during the first day of campaign for Nov. 8, general election Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

News

Asia

Southeast Asia


The National League for Democracy won 346 seats, more than 50 per cent of parliament
But opposition and rights groups say the poll was not free or fair, and left virtually all Rohingya Muslims disenfranchised



Official results show Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won more than 50 per cent of parliament, but opposition and rights groups say the poll was not free or fair.


Aung San Suu Kyi

Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar's democratic transition

Myanmar election: Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling NLD wins absolute majority

The National League for Democracy won 346 seats, more than 50 per cent of parliament But opposition and rights groups say the poll was not free or fair, and left virtually all Rohingya Muslims disenfranchised

The National League for Democracy won 346 seats, more than 50 per cent of parliament

But opposition and rights groups say the poll was not free or fair, and left virtually all Rohingya Muslims disenfranchised