Myanmar ruling party concedes defeat

[Picasso]

Myanmar ruling party concedes defeat

AAP
November 10, 2015, 1:29 am

Myanmar's ruling party has conceded defeat in a general election as the opposition led by democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi appeared on course for a landslide victory that could ensure it forms the next government.

"We lost," Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) acting chairman Htay Oo told Reuters a day after the Southeast Asian country's first free nationwide election in a quarter of a century.

By late afternoon, vendors outside the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Yangon were selling red T-shirts with Suu Kyi's face and the words "We won".

The election commission later began announcing constituency-by-constituency results from Sunday's poll. All of the first 12 parliamentary seats announced were won by Suu Kyi's party.

The keenly watched vote was Myanmar's first general election since its long-ruling military ceded power to President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government in 2011, ushering in a period of reform and opening up to foreign investment.

The NLD said its own tally of results posted at polling stations around the country showed it was on track to win more than 70 per cent of the seats being contested in parliament, above the two-thirds threshold it needs to form Myanmar's first democratically elected government since the early 1960s.

"They must accept the results, even though they don't want to," NLD spokesman Win Htein told Reuters, adding that in the highly populated central region the Nobel peace laureate's party looked set to win more than 90 per cent of seats.

Earlier, a smiling Suu Kyi appeared on the balcony of the NLD's headquarters and in a brief address urged supporters to be patient and wait for the official results.

The election was a landmark in the country's unsteady journey to democracy from the military dictatorship that made the former Burma a pariah state for so long.

It is also a moment that Suu Kyi will relish after spending years under house arrest following the country's 1990 election, when the NLD won a landslide victory that was ignored by the junta.

This time the ruling party, created by the former junta and led by retired military officers, and the chief of the armed forces have pledged to respect the result.

But although the election appears to have dealt a decisive defeat to the USDP, a period of uncertainty still looms over the country because it is not clear how Suu Kyi will share power easily with the still-dominant military.

The military-drafted constitution guarantees one-quarter of parliament's seats to unelected members of the armed forces and allows the commander-in-chief to nominate the head of three powerful ministries, interior, defence and border security.

Even if the NLD gets the majority it needs, Suu Kyi is barred from taking the presidency herself under the constitution written by the junta to preserve its power. Suu Kyi has said she would be the power behind the new president regardless of a charter she has derided as "very silly".

Among the losers was USDP chief Htay Oo, who told Reuters from the rural Irrawaddy delta heartlands that are a bastion of support for his party he was "surprised" by his own defeat.

 

[harimau]

Singapore oppositions wait long long!

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Can anyone explain to me why the Burmese regime would willingly give up power?

 

[frenchbriefs]

africa has gain democracy.burma has gain democracy,but singapore is still waiting long long,why?

 

[frenchbriefs]

Can anyone explain to me why the Burmese regime would willingly give up power?

Their people have balls.

 

[eatshitndie]

coup cumming.

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Their people have balls.

From what I know the regime got an iron grip on power. It's not like Indon towards Suharto's end where power was slipping away

 

[eErotica69]

Can anyone explain to me why the Burmese regime would willingly give up power?

I want to know the answer too.

No clue why the powerful Junta willing to yield power.

 

[kiwibird7]

Can anyone explain to me why the Burmese regime would willingly give up power?

Myanmar people are NOT Kiasi & Kiasu and MOST IMPORTANTLY; NOT DAFT! They got Titanium balls to challenge and KO the military JUNTA and give the NO EXPERIENCE opposition party a chance to run the country.

SINKIES are totally hopeless in the political dept, only KPKB; last time complain NO credible candidates, complain oppo give walkovers etc. When all seats contested SINKIES fear freak election result, got credible oppo candidates give only 30% support, WTF!

SINKIES truly deserved to become 3rd class citizens in SG and be bossed around by 3rd rate FTs.

 

[MaximiLian]

This result is totally unacceptable. Hope the military junta can "correct" it soon.

 

[blissquek]

Can anyone explain to me why the Burmese regime would willingly give up power?

Because their collection of diamonds,art works, gold bar, S$10,000 bills, are all filled to the brim in Changi FreePort.

 

[Agoraphobic]

I think its both internal and external pressure. The people clearly want a change in government, and the votes show it. Foreign investors are eagerly waiting to jump into the country as soon as the political climate allows it. The Junta knew it was coming, and prepared itself for this by positioning its members in key positions to gain from these investments. It is unlikely that they want to continue to remain in the disadvantaged position of being embargoed by foreign powers. I don't think they gave up power, they just shifted their "power" from guns to probably judiciary/legislative channels.

Cheers!

Can anyone explain to me why the Burmese regime would willingly give up power?

 

[kezgtree]

I am not so analytical on politics but I some how agree with u..this will be advantage to them..junta...

 

[Narong Wongwan]

I think its both internal and external pressure. The people clearly want a change in government, and the votes show it. Foreign investors are eagerly waiting to jump into the country as soon as the political climate allows it. The Junta knew it was coming, and prepared itself for this by positioning its members in key positions to gain from these investments. It is unlikely that they want to continue to remain in the disadvantaged position of being embargoed by foreign powers. I don't think they gave up power, they just shifted their "power" from guns to probably judiciary/legislative channels.

Cheers!

So the lady is being used to put up a pseudo road to democracy show but in actual fact is to con foreign investments?

 

[singveld]

what a meaningless election. the army knew they are going to lose, they change the constitution before they agree to the election.
basically they still have the power. but she is just a puppet head. money will flow into the country , especially from usa, usa said freedom, fair election and democracy is equal to wealth like libya, syria and afghanistan etc.

 

[Froggy]

From what I know the regime got an iron grip on power. It's not like Indon towards Suharto's end where power was slipping away

I want to know the answer too.

No clue why the powerful Junta willing to yield power.

About 5-6 years ago my business friends in Myanmar already told me the military already know democracy is a sooner or later thing so they started preparation. Past years lots of land and businesses already taken by them and their families. So this doesn't come as a surprise.

 

[Cerebral]

Dont know what really forced the change but i do know China has a lot of sway

 

[Picasso]

'Mother must win!' Suu Kyi supporters confident of victory after Myanmar holds freest election for 25 years

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi casts ballot for the first time

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 08 November, 2015, 2:38pm
UPDATED : Monday, 09 November, 2015, 11:32am

Reuters in Yangon

Supporters of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party cheer as they watch a polling station counts on a giant screen outside the party headquarters in Yangon. Photo: AFP

Although the outcome of the poll will not be clear for at least 36 hours, a densely packed crowd blocked a busy road beside the headquarters of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in Yangon as they cheered and waved red flags.

“I love mother Suu unconditionally. I believe in her as well, that’s why I have been here since this afternoon to show her support,” said Tin Tin Oo, a housewife.

“I will stay here until all the results come out... Mother must win!” she said, defying a party plea for supporters to disperse.

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi smiles at supporters as she visits poling stations. Photo: Reuters

The NLD is expected to win the largest share of votes cast by an electorate of about 30 million, who chose from thousands of candidates standing for parliament and regional assemblies.

But a legacy of rule by military junta means Suu Kyi, who led the campaign for democracy, cannot become president herself. And whatever the result, Myanmar is heading into a period of uncertainty over how she and other ascendant parties negotiate sharing power with the still-dominant military.

A pariah state until a few years ago, Myanmar has had little experience organising elections. Some 10,000 observers were enlisted to scrutinise the process. Early indications from the monitors were that voting was mostly trouble-free, with only isolated irregularities.

"From the dozens of people we have spoken to since 6 a.m. today, everybody feels they have been able to vote for whoever they wanted to in security and safety," said Durudee Sirichanya, one of the international observers.

National League for Democracy (NLD) party supporters pose for a photograph as they celebrate first elections results outside the party headquarters in Yangon.

In the city of Mandalay, about 100 people were stopped from voting after officials discovered they were outsiders who had been mysteriously added to the register and then bussed to the polling station.

The main concern about the election’s fairness arose before the election. Activists estimated that up to 4 million people, mostly citizens working abroad, would not be able to vote.

Religious tension, fanned by Buddhist nationalists whose actions have intimidated Myanmar’s Muslim minority, also marred the election campaign. Among those excluded from voting were around a million Rohingya Muslims who are effectively stateless in their own land.

Still, there was excitement among voters about the first general election since a quasi-civilian government replaced military rule in 2011, which was widely seen as a referendum on the country’s unsteady reform process.

Myanmar's President Thein Sein casts his vote in Naypyitaw. Photo: AFP

"I’ve done my bit for change, for the emergence of democracy," said Daw Myint, a 55-year-old former teacher, after she cast her vote for the NLD in Yangon.

Suu Kyi’s car inched through a scrum of news photographers outside the polling station in Yangon where the 70-year-old Nobel peace laureate came to vote.

She was stony-faced as bodyguards shouted at people to move aside, but a jubilant cry of "Victory! Victory!" went up from the crowd of well-wishers as she went inside.

Many voters doubted the military would accept the outcome of the vote if the NLD wins.

A Muslim Myanmar voter poses with his inked finger after he cast his vote. Photo: AFP

But in the capital, Naypyitaw, military Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing said there would be no repeat of the last free vote in 1990, when Suu Kyi won but the army ignored the result. She spent most of the next 20 years under house arrest before her release in 2010.

"If the people choose them (the NLD), there is no reason we would not accept it," the senior general told reporters.

Results from the election are expected to come in slowly, with a clear overall picture not likely to emerge until Tuesday morning.

Suu Kyi is barred from taking the presidency herself by provisions of a constitution written by the junta to preserve its power.

But if she wins a majority and is able to form Myanmar’s first democratically elected government since the early 1960s, Suu Kyi says she will be the power behind the new president regardless of a constitution she has derided as "very silly".

Suu Kyi started the contest with a sizeable handicap: even if the vote is deemed free and fair, one-quarter of parliament’s seats will still be held by unelected military officers.

To form a government and choose its own president, the NLD on its own or with allies must win more than two-thirds of all seats up for grabs. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party would need far fewer seats if it secured the backing of the military bloc in parliament.

However, many voters were expected to spurn the USDP, created by the former junta and led by former military officers, because it is linked with the brutal dictatorship that installed President Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government in 2011.

An inconclusive result could thrust some of the 91 parties contesting the election, including many representing Myanmar’s myriad ethnic minorities, into a king-maker role.

Even if the NLD is victorious, the military will retain significant power. It is guaranteed key ministerial positions, the constitution gives it the right to take over the government under certain circumstances, and it also has a grip on the economy through holding companies.

 

[Picasso]

Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president: four ways victory in Myanmar could turn sour

Myanmar’s constitutional dice are loaded and the expected electoral landslide to regime change in the military-led nation is far from a fairytale end

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 November, 2015, 10:40pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 November, 2015, 10:48pm

Dan Moss with Agencies
[email protected]

Supporters choose Aung San Suu Kyi for their T-shirts and — it’s likely — their leader. Photo: AFP

Current estimates of the outcome from Monday’s general election in Myanmar, the nation’s first free vote since 1990, show a near clean sweep for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

But there are still challenges ahead for the campaigning democracy advocate that could take defeat from the jaws of victory, even if the result is in her favour.

The party has 143 seats out of 165 declared and the ruling party Union Solidarity and Development Party 12, results from the Union Election Commission reported by Reuters said.

The NLD expects to take up to 90 per cent of the 491 seats up for grabs in the 664 seat parliament, as 25 per cent of seats are reserved for the military.

Election observers said that Myanmar's general election took place in a "calm and peaceful atmosphere," but said many Muslims had been left unable to vote, particularly the Rohingya minority. Photo: AFP

In 1990 the NLD won in a landslide only to have Suu Kyi put under house arrest for most of two decades.

This time the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party has already conceded defeat.

In two interviews on Tuesday, the Nobel peace laureate said that, whoever was appointed president by the newly elected houses of parliament, she would call the shots.

She told the BBC that she would be “making all the decisions as the leader of the winning party” and Channel News Asia that the next president would have “no authority”.

Once the euphoria over Aung San Suu Kyi's apparent victory in Myanmar elections subsides, her opposition party will face a variety of hurdles and complications in its struggle to bring more democracy to the long-repressed country. Here are some of the main challenges:

Suu Kyi’s pursuit of the presidency

Aung San Suu Kyi casts her ballot. Photo: Reuters

Even if Suu Kyi's party wins by a landslide, she cannot become president. The Nobel laureate's longtime popularity was so feared by the former military junta, which ceded power in 2011, that it included a clause in the 2008 constitution to limit her political power. It states that anyone who is married to a foreign citizen or whose children are foreigners cannot be president. It is seen as custom-made for Suu Kyi, whose late husband and two sons are British. In interviews before Sunday's election, Suu Kyi said if her party won, she would run the government and be “above the president” — a statement meant to encourage voters but which raised eyebrows among analysts who wondered what she meant. Suu Kyi has not explained or said whom she would nominate as president. If her National League for Democracy does win enough seats to form a government, there is also the challenge of how to lead it. Nobody in her party has any experience running a government.

Military Power

Given the dominance of the Myanmar military, Suu Kyi's home in Yangon is heavily fortified. Photo: AP

No matter who wins the election, the military still holds control and influence over the government. Under the constitution, 25 per cent of the seats in Parliament are reserved for the military. That means

Members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) dance during an election campaign. Photo: AP

to have a simple majority, Suu Kyi's opposition party must win two-thirds of the vote. It also means that any government she leads would be hamstrung by the military's continued role in politics and power. Amendments to the constitution require more than a 75 per cent vote. The military also retains control over three crucial ministries that oversee the police, army, border affairs and a vast bureaucracy across the country. And, the military has special emergency powers written into the constitution that give it the right to take direct control of the country for vague and unspecified reasons of “national security” and “national unity” — meaning the army could retake control if it sees fit.

Ethnic conflict

Unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar reduced neighbourhoods to ashes in 2013 when police were deployed to separate the combatants. Photo: Reuters

Last month, the government signed a cease-fire agreement with many of the country's ethnic minority guerrilla groups. The pact nominally put an end to decades of armed conflict. But major groups with the heaviest firepower stayed away from the accord.

Also, many cease-fires have come and gone over decades of ethnic insurgencies, and like them, the latest makes no concession to the bedrock demands of the ethnic groups for greater autonomy. Not included among the cease-fire groups are the Kachin, whose combat against the government has been the fiercest in recent years. They believe there can be no lasting settlement of ethnic complaints under a government dominated by the military, which claims that an aggressive counter-insurgency is crucial to maintaining national unity.

Muslims and the Rohingya

Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were found in southern Thai camps. Photo: Reuters

Suu Kyi has been criticized by many former admirers overseas for failing to defend Muslim rights and for silence on the plight of the Rohingya, the country's persecuted Muslim minority. She has defended

her reaction as a means of political survival in the mostly Buddhist country, saying her job is to reconcile the two communities, not fan divisions. In a pre-election news conference, she urged reporters not to “exaggerate” the Rohingya's problems in a country with many problems to solve.

London-based Burma Campaign UK said in a pre-election report that the NLD “has appeared to pander to prejudice against Muslims rather than challenge it, leaving many Muslims without much hope that the NLD will do much to stop growing anti-Muslim activities” or repeal recently enacted anti-Muslim laws.

The Buddhist majority in Myanmar may need to make way for minority Muslims to appease international critics. Photo: AP

Another rights group, the Washington-based United to End Genocide, said in a statement Tuesday that the “poisoned atmosphere” against Muslims in general and the Rohingya in particular could lead to violence that would give the military a pretext for stepping in to protect the peace.

For the first time, about 500,000 normally eligible voters from the country's 1.3 million-strong Rohingya minority were barred from casting ballots. The government considers them foreigners even though their families have lived in Myanmar for generations. Neither the opposition party nor the military-backed ruling party fielded any Muslim candidates.

—with Reuters, AP

 

[MaximiLian]

Thanks for the article. I can sleep well liao.

Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president: four ways victory in Myanmar could turn sour

Myanmar’s constitutional dice are loaded and the expected electoral landslide to regime change in the military-led nation is far from a fairytale end

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 November, 2015, 10:40pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 November, 2015, 10:48pm

Dan Moss with Agencies
[email protected]

Supporters choose Aung San Suu Kyi for their T-shirts and — it’s likely — their leader. Photo: AFP

Current estimates of the outcome from Monday’s general election in Myanmar, the nation’s first free vote since 1990, show a near clean sweep for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

But there are still challenges ahead for the campaigning democracy advocate that could take defeat from the jaws of victory, even if the result is in her favour.

The party has 143 seats out of 165 declared and the ruling party Union Solidarity and Development Party 12, results from the Union Election Commission reported by Reuters said.

The NLD expects to take up to 90 per cent of the 491 seats up for grabs in the 664 seat parliament, as 25 per cent of seats are reserved for the military.

Election observers said that Myanmar's general election took place in a "calm and peaceful atmosphere," but said many Muslims had been left unable to vote, particularly the Rohingya minority. Photo: AFP

In 1990 the NLD won in a landslide only to have Suu Kyi put under house arrest for most of two decades.

This time the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party has already conceded defeat.

In two interviews on Tuesday, the Nobel peace laureate said that, whoever was appointed president by the newly elected houses of parliament, she would call the shots.

She told the BBC that she would be “making all the decisions as the leader of the winning party” and Channel News Asia that the next president would have “no authority”.

Once the euphoria over Aung San Suu Kyi's apparent victory in Myanmar elections subsides, her opposition party will face a variety of hurdles and complications in its struggle to bring more democracy to the long-repressed country. Here are some of the main challenges:

Suu Kyi’s pursuit of the presidency

Aung San Suu Kyi casts her ballot. Photo: Reuters

Even if Suu Kyi's party wins by a landslide, she cannot become president. The Nobel laureate's longtime popularity was so feared by the former military junta, which ceded power in 2011, that it included a clause in the 2008 constitution to limit her political power. It states that anyone who is married to a foreign citizen or whose children are foreigners cannot be president. It is seen as custom-made for Suu Kyi, whose late husband and two sons are British. In interviews before Sunday's election, Suu Kyi said if her party won, she would run the government and be “above the president” — a statement meant to encourage voters but which raised eyebrows among analysts who wondered what she meant. Suu Kyi has not explained or said whom she would nominate as president. If her National League for Democracy does win enough seats to form a government, there is also the challenge of how to lead it. Nobody in her party has any experience running a government.

Military Power

Given the dominance of the Myanmar military, Suu Kyi's home in Yangon is heavily fortified. Photo: AP

No matter who wins the election, the military still holds control and influence over the government. Under the constitution, 25 per cent of the seats in Parliament are reserved for the military. That means

Members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) dance during an election campaign. Photo: AP

to have a simple majority, Suu Kyi's opposition party must win two-thirds of the vote. It also means that any government she leads would be hamstrung by the military's continued role in politics and power. Amendments to the constitution require more than a 75 per cent vote. The military also retains control over three crucial ministries that oversee the police, army, border affairs and a vast bureaucracy across the country. And, the military has special emergency powers written into the constitution that give it the right to take direct control of the country for vague and unspecified reasons of “national security” and “national unity” — meaning the army could retake control if it sees fit.

Ethnic conflict

Unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar reduced neighbourhoods to ashes in 2013 when police were deployed to separate the combatants. Photo: Reuters

Last month, the government signed a cease-fire agreement with many of the country's ethnic minority guerrilla groups. The pact nominally put an end to decades of armed conflict. But major groups with the heaviest firepower stayed away from the accord.

Also, many cease-fires have come and gone over decades of ethnic insurgencies, and like them, the latest makes no concession to the bedrock demands of the ethnic groups for greater autonomy. Not included among the cease-fire groups are the Kachin, whose combat against the government has been the fiercest in recent years. They believe there can be no lasting settlement of ethnic complaints under a government dominated by the military, which claims that an aggressive counter-insurgency is crucial to maintaining national unity.

Muslims and the Rohingya

Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were found in southern Thai camps. Photo: Reuters

Suu Kyi has been criticized by many former admirers overseas for failing to defend Muslim rights and for silence on the plight of the Rohingya, the country's persecuted Muslim minority. She has defended

her reaction as a means of political survival in the mostly Buddhist country, saying her job is to reconcile the two communities, not fan divisions. In a pre-election news conference, she urged reporters not to “exaggerate” the Rohingya's problems in a country with many problems to solve.

London-based Burma Campaign UK said in a pre-election report that the NLD “has appeared to pander to prejudice against Muslims rather than challenge it, leaving many Muslims without much hope that the NLD will do much to stop growing anti-Muslim activities” or repeal recently enacted anti-Muslim laws.

The Buddhist majority in Myanmar may need to make way for minority Muslims to appease international critics. Photo: AP

Another rights group, the Washington-based United to End Genocide, said in a statement Tuesday that the “poisoned atmosphere” against Muslims in general and the Rohingya in particular could lead to violence that would give the military a pretext for stepping in to protect the peace.

For the first time, about 500,000 normally eligible voters from the country's 1.3 million-strong Rohingya minority were barred from casting ballots. The government considers them foreigners even though their families have lived in Myanmar for generations. Neither the opposition party nor the military-backed ruling party fielded any Muslim candidates.

—with Reuters, AP