Even as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s Opposition party was on the verge of a formal victory on Thursday and Suu Kyi’s supporters remained anxious about how the Army and its allies would respond to a mauling, Myanmar’s President and Army chief allayed all fears by congratulating the party and promising a smooth transition of power.
It means that Myanmar is likely to soon have its first Government in decades that won’t be under the military’s sway. The Election Commission announced more results on Thursday, showing the National league for Democracy (NlD) party needs just three more seats to acquire the 329 seats it needs for a majority in the 664-member, two-House Parliament.
Elections were not held in seven constituencies, meaning a simple majority can be reached at 329. The NlD has won 243 seats in the lower House and 83 in the Upper House for a total of 326. More results were to be announced later in the day.
The military establishment has not formally conceded defeat but it has acknowledged the massive success of Suu Kyi’s party, and assured that it will respect the final outcome of election results.
Myanmar’s powerful Army chief on Thursday congratulated Suu Kyi’s party for “winning a majority” in landmark polls, agreeing to talks.
The comments carry significant weight coming from the Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, the head of a military that ruled the country for half a century with an iron fist and kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years.
Suu Kyi’s party said on Wednesday it received a message from Information Minister Ye Htut on behalf of President Thein Sein congratulating it for leading the race for parliamentary seats in the November 8 election. Ye Htut said the Government will pursue a peaceful transfer of power “in accordance with the legislated timeline.” He was not immediately available for comment. Thein Sein is a former General who has led the military-backed Government for the past five years.
The message helps ease lingering concerns that the military, which has a large influence over the ruling party, may deny the NlD power, as it did after elections in 1990.
Meanwhile, congratulatory messages from world leaders have already started pouring in. Greeting Suu Kyi on her historic success, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will be delighted to welcome Suu Kyi, who led her party to a resounding electoral victory trouncing the ruling camp.
“Spoke to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi & congratulated her. India will be delighted to welcome her,” Modi tweeted, soon after arriving in london for a three-day visit.
Myanmar, considered one of India’s strategic neighbours, shares a 1,640 km long border with a number of North Eastern states including militancy-infested Nagaland and Manipur. Ties between the two countries are on an upswing, particularly in trade and investment and security.
US President Barack Obama also congratulated Myanmar’s longtime pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi on her success in the “historic” elections, the White House said on Thursday.
Obama called Suu Kyi and praised her “tireless efforts and sacrifice over so many years to promote a more inclusive, peaceful and democratic Burma.”
He also spoke to Myanmar President Thein Sein to hail an election that many hope could offer the country a peaceful way out of decades of suffocating military rule.
Meanwhile, a wary China, which for decades backed the military junta, is set to recalibrate its Myanmar policy to protect its strategic interests and billions of dollars of investments.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China is confident that Myanmar will continue its friendly diplomacy towards Beijing despite the new order emerging in Nay Pyi Daw.
However, while an NlD victory virtually assures it of being able to elect the President as well, Suu Kyi remains barred from becoming President by a constitutional provision inserted by the military before it transferred power to a quasi-civilian Government in 2011.
Suu Kyi has declared, however, that she will become the country’s de facto leader, acting “above the President” if her party forms the next Government.
She described that plan further in an interview Tuesday with Singapore’s Channel News Asia television.
“I make all the decisions because I’m the leader of the winning party. And the President will be one whom we will choose just in order to meet the requirements of the Constitution,” she said.
“He (the President) will have to understand this perfectly well that he will have no authority. That he will act in accordance with the positions of the party.”
Analysts say difficult months lie ahead, with the Army still in charge of key levers of power, protected by a Constitution gifting it 25 per cent of all parliamentary seats as well as key security posts.