The Dhaka Times Desk Myanmar is going to start the journey towards democracy. Popular pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party is set to win Myanmar's fair and peaceful elections by a landslide.
Reuters quoted the Election Commission as saying that the results of 54 out of the 330 seats in the lower house were announced. NLD got 49 of them.
Even if Suu Kyi won this election after a long struggle, the power equation depends a lot on what kind of compromise she makes with the military. In January, the new parliament will elect the president and vice president. Until then, incumbent President Thein Sein and the military-controlled United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will remain in power.
There were three challenges to democratization in Myanmar, two of which the country won in this election. One is that the election was free and fair. Second, the military-controlled government also accepted the results. President Thein Sein said in a somewhat defensive tone, 'We will respect the results of the historic election.' And three is to hand over power to the winning party.
Votes were taken in 330 of the 440-seat lower house and 168 of the 224-seat upper house of Myanmar's parliament. According to the constitution, the remaining seats in both councils will be filled by the army members. The army chief will nominate them again. In that case, the NLD should get at least 330 seats in both assemblies to form the government. But it is assumed that they will get more seats than that.
But there are problems with Suu Kyi's coming to power. Because Article 69 of the country's constitution states that a person who marries a foreigner or has a child who is a citizen of another country, cannot run for president. That is why Suu Kyi cannot compete for the presidency of Myanmar.
However, even if Suu Kyi is not the president, the people are happy that Myanmar is going to start the democratic path again after a long time. As the common people want to see Suu Kyi in power, they are also keen to restore the democratic atmosphere in the country.
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