USA TODAY International Edition
Burma government promises peaceful transfer of power
Burma’s government announced Wednesday it will pursue a peaceful transfer of power after decades of military rule, as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party continues to sweep the ongoing tally of last weekend’s elections, her party said.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy ( NLD) said it received a message of congratulations from Information Minister Ye Htut on behalf of President Thein Sein for leading in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
“In honor of the citizens’ desire, the government will pursue a peaceful transfer in accordance with the legislated timeline,” Ye Htut said in the message, according to the NLD. The statement could not immediately be confirmed.
Results are still being announced, but the NLD won nearly 90% of the 40% of seats declared so far. Sunday’s vote was the first openly contested national election in 25 years for Burma, also known as Myanmar.
Suu Kyi, a democracy icon and Nobel laureate, won her seat in parliament, but she is barred by the constitution from becoming president because her close relatives are foreign. Her late husband was a British national, and she has two British sons. She had spent 15 years under house arrest for defying the nation’s military rulers and was released in 2010.
The military, which took power in a 1962 coup, gave way to a nominally civilian elected government in 2011, but still holds several key posts and retains 25% of the seats in parliament.
The NLD said on its Facebook page that Suu Kyi wrote to Thein Sein, commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing and House Speaker Shwe Mann, asking for a meeting.
Ye Htut said the president and the military will respect the re- sults of Sunday’s “free and fair elections,” and that the meeting Suu Kyi requested will be held after the Union Election Commission completes its work, the Associated Press reported.