Myanmar’s ruling party says it has lost the general election, with early results suggesting a landslide win for Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) leader Htay Oo said the government would accept the result of the country’s first free national election in 25 years.
Key points:
NLD secures all 12 of first upper house seats announced in early results
Government spokesman says he is surprised by the scale of losses
Opposition needs 67 per cent of available parliamentary seats to win majority
“We lost,” Mr Htay Oo, a close ally of president Thein Sein told Reuters news agency.
“We have to find out the reason why we lost.”
The country’s official election commission has been announcing the results of Sunday’s election, constituency-by-constituency, as they trickle in.
In the first batch, the NLD won all 12 of the seats announced. In the next, it won 14 of the 16 official tallies.
Mr Oo said he was surprised by the scale of his defeat in his own parliamentary constituency in Hinthada, in the delta region, considered the heartland of the USDP’s rural support base.
“I wasn’t expecting it because we were able to do a lot for the people in this region.” he said.
“Anyway, it’s the decision of the people.”
Suu Kyi’s opposition has commanding lead: spokesman
Earlier, NLD party spokesman Win Htein said his party had won more than 80 per cent of the votes counted so far in the densely populated central regions.
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Outside the central area, the NLD had so far won more than 65 per cent of votes cast in the states of Mon and Kayin, he said.
Results from the five other states were not yet known, he added.
The central area is made up of seven administrative divisions.
The NLD needs 67 per cent of available parliamentary seats to enjoy a majority.
That would be enough to overwhelm the USDP, whose military allies are gifted 25 per cent of seats under the constitution.
Ms Suu Kyi addressed her supporters at NLD party headquarters after the vote closed and called for dignity and restraint.
“The loser has to accept the result bravely, with pride and the true winner should be humble,” she said.
She said it was too early then to say whether her party had secured the landslide victory it expected.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is on track for an election victory, but even an absolute majority will not give her the right to govern.
Whatever the result, Myanmar is heading into a period of uncertainty over how Ms Suu Kyi and other ascendant parties might negotiate sharing power with the still-dominant military.
Even if she gets the majority she needs, Ms Suu Kyi is barred from taking the presidency herself under the constitution written by the junta to preserve its power.
Ms Suu Kyi has said she would be the power behind the new president regardless of a constitution she has derided as “very silly”.
The military will, however, 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.
