Suu Kyi’s party claims win
The disgraced human rights icon sweeps an election in Myanmar.
YANGON, Myanmar — The ruling National League for Democracy claimed Monday to have won enough seats to secure a majority in Myanmar’s parliament, guaranteeing the party of Aung San Suu Kyi another five years in power in the nascent democracy.
The result of the country’s second free election after decades of military rule was never much in doubt.
Despite international scorn for defending the massacre of Rohingya minorities, Suu Kyi commands an unshakable following among the nation’s majority Buddhist Bamar, who account for more than twothirds of Myanmar’s 54 million people.
In addition, more than 1.6 million ethnic- minority residents were barred from voting in an election that international observers said was neither free nor fair.
The apparent victory for Suu Kyi’s party in Sunday’s polls comes despite worsening economic conditions and an escalating COVID- 19 crisis that’s straining the nation’s healthcare system.
More than 60,000 cases and 1,400 deaths have been reported since mid- March.
Poll workers in Yangon were seen wearing masks, face shields and gloves, and voters were offered face coverings. Social distancing was difficult to enforce because of the high turnout.
Later in the evening, NLD supporters ignored COVID- 19 restrictions by gathering outside the party’s headquarters in Yangon, the nation’s largest city, to wait for results.
An NLD spokesman later said the party had won the 322 seats needed to form a
government, though its power will be checked.
Under the constitution, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, is guaranteed a quarter of all seats in parliament — an arrangement seen as a barrier to economic and political reforms.
There were no reports of violence Sunday, though tensions ran high in the days leading up to the election after the country’s army chief, Min Aung Hlaing, refused to commit to honoring the results of Sunday’s polls, raising fears of a military takeover.
Min Aung Hlaing, an accused war criminal, quickly reversed course, though he brief ly drew comparisons here to President Trump, who has yet to concede last week’s U. S. presidential election.
While enthusiasm was high in Yangon, analysts warned that the mass disenfranchisement of ethnic- minority voters could exacerbate tensions and ongoing civil conflict.
The Rohingya Muslim minority, which was sub
jected to a brutal campaign of violence spearheaded by Min Aung Hlaing in 2017, is largely excluded from voting or running for office because of citizenship laws that critics say are arbitrary and discriminatory.
This year, polls were canceled in most of Rakhine state, where many Rohingya live, because of an escalating war between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, a militant group seeking greater autonomy for Rakhine.
Despite this, initial results indicate that the local Arakan National Party still won the most remaining seats in the state, including in areas that the NLD won in 2015.
“The election results in Rakhine show clearly strong support for the ANP, which mirrors many of the grievances of the Arakan Army,” said political analyst David Mathieson. “However, as the NLD and the Tatmadaw seem resistant to really granting any concessions to the Rakhine political parties or armed groups, the con
f lict there will continue to rage.”
Kyaw Lynn, a 23- year- old political science student from Rakhine studying in Yangon, was one of many denied a vote.
The government said it was because of ongoing violence in his region, though many accuse the NLD of orchestrating poll cancellations in areas where it did not expect to perform well.
“Voting was canceled even though there is no f ighting ” in my township, Kyaw Lynn said.
Critics say Suu Kyi could have done more to push back against the Tatmadaw.
Instead, she defended military leaders from accusations of genocide against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice last year and praised the military’s recent operations in Rakhine, despite the United Nations special rapporteur’s warning that it could be committing fresh war crimes.