Suu Kyi’s party claims landslide win in Myanmar vote

By Aung Hla Tun and Andrew R.C. Marshall

YANGON (Reuters) – Pro-democracy

leader Aung San Suu Kyi claimed on Monday a by-election landslide for her party, which she hoped would mark

the beginning of a new era for Myanmar after a historic vote that could prompt the West to end

sanctions.

 

The charismatic Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who led the struggle against

military rule in the former Burma for two decades, was one of 44 candidates her National League for Democracy Party (NLD)

said won all but one of the legislative seats being contested.

The by-elections followed a year of astonishing change

for a country that was in the grip of military rule for decades: the government has freed hundreds of political prisoners,

held talks with ethnic minority rebels, relaxed censorship, allowed trade unions and showed signs of pulling back from the

economic and political orbit of giant neighbour China.

“It is not so much our triumph as a triumph of the people, who

have decided that they must be involved in the political process of this country,” Suu Kyi told a crowd of cheering

supporters at the NLD’s headquarters in Yangon.

“We hope that this will be the beginning of a new era, when there

will be more emphasis on the role of the people in the everyday politics of our country.

“We hope that all other

parties that took part in the elections will be in a position to cooperate with us to create a genuinely democratic

atmosphere in our nation.”

The NLD, taking part in elections for the first time since it won 1990 polls which the

military ignored, contested all but one of the 45 vacant seats in the legislature.

There was no word from the ruling

Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was formed by the military junta before it ceded power a year ago, or

the Election Commission on the outcome of Sunday’s ballots.

The Election Commission has not announced any results for

the elections for 45 seats.

If confirmed, the sweep would mean the NLD even won four seats in the capital, Naypyitaw,

a new city built by the former junta where most of the residents are government employees and military personnel. They had

been expected to back the USDP, the party of most of the cabinet

ministers.

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The United States and European Union had hinted they could lift some sanctions – imposed over the past two

decades in response to human rights abuses – if the election was free and fair. Lifting sanctions could unleash a wave of

investment in the resource-rich country bordering India and China.

But to be regarded as credible, the vote needs the

blessing of Suu Kyi, who was freed from house arrest in November 2010.

She agreed in November to end the NLD’s

boycott of a quasi-democratic system created and dominated by the same ex-generals who persecuted the pro-democracy

camp.

 

That represented a giant leap of faith for Suu Kyi, who has found common ground with President

Thein Sein, a former junta heavyweight who has surprised the world with the most dramatic political reforms since the

military took power in a 1962 coup.

Western governments are waiting for Suu Kyi’s endorsement of the poll to start

reviewing political and trade sanctions, but on Monday, that was not forthcoming, although her criticism was

restrained.

She said there were flaws in the election, which would not be overlooked. “We will point out all the

irregularities that took place, not in any spirit of vengeance or anger, but because we do not think that these should be

overlooked … with the intention of making sure that things improve in future.”

HUNTING BUSINESS

Business

executives, mostly from Asia but also from Europe and the United States, have swarmed into Yangon in recent months to hunt

for investment opportunities in the country of 60 million people, one of the last frontier markets in Asia.

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A small number of officials from Western countries and

the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) were invited to attend the polls but were given only a few days to

prepare. They privately called themselves “visitors” rather than observers.

ASEAN issued a statement on Monday saying

it believed the election “was conducted in a free and fair and transparent manner” and urged the West to consider lifting

sanctions.

Observers who spoke to Reuters said they saw no mass fraud. The 2010 election was condemned as rigged to

favour the USDP.

The NLD boycotted that vote. But just as Myanmar is changing, so too is Suu Kyi. Many see her now, at

66, as more politically astute, more realistic and ready to compromise. She has described Thein Sein as honest and sincere

and accepted his appeal for the NLD to take part.

Her priorities, she says, are introducing the rule of law, ending

long-simmering insurgencies and amending the 2008 constitution that ensures the military retains a big political

stake.

Many expect Suu Kyi to exert considerable influence and some wonder if conservative members of parliament would

dare oppose her, given her popularity, especially ahead of a general election in 2015.

Some critics say Suu Kyi has

got too close to the ex-generals and fear she is being exploited to persuade the West to end sanctions and make parliament

appear effective.

Some have almost impossibly high hopes of what she can achieve. “Too many expectations are

dangerous,” said Ko Ko Gyi, a former political prisoner. “She is not a magician.”

Win Min, a political scientist at

Harvard University, said it was likely Suu Kyi would push for changes that raised living standards before tackling the

contentious issue of the military’s political power.

“She can be effective in galvanising the parliamentarians. She

is likely to be more realistic in focusing more on making easier constitutional amendments that won’t reduce so much of the

military power,” he said.

Some U.S. restrictions such as visa bans and asset freezes could be lifted quickly if the

election goes smoothly, diplomats say, while the European Union may end its ban on investment in timber and the mining of

gemstones and metals.

But some critics say the restrictions should remain in place to encourage more

reforms.

“Now is not the time for the international community to rush toward lifting pressure on Burma,” said U.S.

congressman Joe Crowley, who visited Myanmar in January.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington; Writing

and additional reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)