Fri 13 October 2020:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party secured an absolute majority in Myanmar’s election, official results showed Friday, in a poll disputed by the military-aligned opposition and criticised by rights groups.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) had already declared a landslide victory based on its own tallies, prompting street celebrations by supporters. But official figures were still being returned five days aer the ballot, only the second such polls since the nation emerged from outright military rule in 2011.
Results announced by the election commission Friday showed the NLD had won 346 seats — more than 50 percent of parliament, even taking into account the quarter of seats reserved for the military under the constitution.
The party is on track to improve on its landslide win in 2015, despite widespread disillusion in many ethnicminority areas. “People clearly realised the need for the NLD to get enough votes to form a government on their own,” NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt told AFP, adding this would help “minimise political conflict”.
The military-aligned opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has been trounced across the country, winning just 25 seats by Friday. The party alleges the vote was neither free nor fair and is demanding that the Union Election Commission (UEC) step down and polls be re-run.
Yangon-based analyst Khin Zaw Win warned the coming months will be messy, adding the situation was aconsequence of the UEC being filled with “yes-men and incompetents”.
Under the constitution, the government appoints all commission members. But even if some results were overturned, “the NLD landslide is so large that they wouldn’t alter the overall outcome”, said Richard Horsey from the International Crisis Group.
Observers have widely concluded that voting took place smoothly on the day, despite forecasts of a low turnout due to a recent surge of coronavirus cases.
But they condemned what they described as the election commission’s lack of transparency and its cancellation of the polls across many ethnic minority areas ostensibly for security reasons.
The move left 1.5 million voters disenfranchised and sparked grievances in already restive areas that the playing field had been tilted in favour of the NLD. Some will conclude the electoral process does not work for them and choose “political insurrection or insurgency instead”, warned Horsey.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize, has denied allegations of genocide against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Up to 10,000 Rohingya have been killed by a military crackdown the UN says has “genocidal intent” and about 1 million have fled.pic.twitter.com/sQDPDFUOxw
— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 10, 2020
Independent rights groups have criticized the disenfranchisement of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority and cancellation of the vote in certain areas.
The UEC said this was due to the dangers of ongoing combat between government forces and ethnic minority guerrillas.
Critics suggested certain areas were singled out for cancellation because they were certain to elect lawmakers from parties hostile to the current government.
Suu Kyi’s international reputation has been hurt badly since she defended an army crackdown down on the Rohingyas that the UN described as ethnic cleansing. The country now faces charges of genocide.
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