Opposition leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
won a seat in Myanmar's parliament Sunday, her party said, a momentous
victory following a decades-long fight for democracy.
Staff from Suu Kyi's
party, the National League for Democracy, said she won and that several
hundred people were waiting at NLD headquarters to celebrate the news,
party spokesman Nyan Win said.
The chairman of the Yangon region of the election commission, Ko Ko, said official results may be known by Monday morning.
The formerly banned
National League for Democracy was vying for 45 seats in the election.
While the balance of power in the parliament will not change even if the
opposition were to win all 45, the vote itself marks a symbolic victory
for many in the country who have lived under military rule for 50
years.
Suu Kyi, 66, won by a
landslide the last time Myanmar held multiparty elections, in 1990, but
the junta ignored the results and placed her under house arrest.
Released in November 2010, Suu Kyi was allowed to crisscross the country to rally support for the NLD for Sunday's race.
The NLD fielded a
candidate for every seat, with Suu Kyi representing Kawhmu, south of the
former capital city of Yangon. She ran against a former military
doctor.
The government promised the vote would be free and fair and allowed international observers to monitor the polling.
Analysts said the sheer
number and spread of polling booths across the country would make it
impossible for international monitors to ensure an honest count.
Ahead of the election,
Suu Kyi alleged there had been voting irregularities, illegal activities
and intimidation either committed or encouraged by official entities.
Sunday, Win, the NLD spokesman, said the party had received more than 50 reports of voting irregularities.
In one area, ballot
sheets had wax placed over the check box for the NLD, making it easier
to erase the mark later and annul the vote, he said. In another area,
ballots were found that had already been filled out, he said.
Election Comission
Chairman Tin Aye said he hoped the elections were fair but couldn't
speak to the allegations of irregularities.
"It's too soon to say," he said.
Still, Suu Kyi hoped her party would win as many parliamentary seats as possible.
Myanmar's legislature
has 664 seats, more than 80% of which are still held by lawmakers
aligned with the military-backed ruling party, Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP).
The 45 seats under
contention are vacancies created by the promotion of parliamentarians to
the Cabinet and other posts last year.
Still, the election is
an opportunity for voters to weigh in during a time of enormous change
in Myanmar, a country also known as Burma.
Analysts said it would be the first real test of the government's commitment to transition from military rule.
Two years ago, it staged a general election that was widely derided as a sham.
Several former military
leaders formed the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) at the
time to contest the election. Suu Kyi's party boycotted it.
After attracting
international condemnation for manipulating the voting process in the
2010 race, Myanmar's leaders know that a fair election will be proof to
the world that it can conduct a legitimate vote, experts said.
"It's hugely important
and it will provide a new semi-democratic political system with an
opportunity to show that it has ambition to become more transparent,
more inclusive and thus more democratic," said Nicholas Farrelly, a
research fellow at the Australian National University, about Sunday's
race.
In the past 12 months,
the country pardoned hundreds of political prisoners, secured a
cease-fire with Karen rebels and agreed to negotiate with other ethnic
rebel groups. Freer press rules have encouraged the proliferation of
journals and magazines.
Myanmar's efforts to
thaw its frosty relations with the rest of the world have been warmly
welcomed and rewarded. In recent months, a steady procession of foreign
ministers has visited the country and, in February, the European Union
lifted a travel ban on Myanmar officials.
There have been hints,
too, that a free and fair vote on Sunday will lead to the relatively
swift unraveling of sanctions that have long choked the country's
economy.
Thousands of Burmese
living in exile around the world were watching the election for a clear
sign that it is safe to return home.
Young voters in Myanmar appeared to be particularly excited about the polling.
Just the sight of Suu
Kyi brazenly pitching her policies to huge crowds of people emboldened
many to dare to believe that democracy might be possible.
"I am so happy and proud
of voting freely," said Ung Sann, 30, on Sunday. "I believe the
government will change toward democracy."
Analysts said Suu Kyi is all but guaranteed to win her seat.
"It would be a major
shock if she did not win her own seat. But I think we have to prepare
people for the expectations that the NLD will not win all seats in the
by-election," said Jim Della-Giacoma, a project director at
International Crisis Group.
Others said the number of seats won by the NLD is less critical than what the vote says about Myanmar's future.
"I don't think it
matters how many seats the NLD wins. I think the only thing that really
matters (is) whether it's free or fair. I don't think the people of
Burma care about how many seats the NLD wins either. What they want to
know is whether the next set of elections, the national elections
(expected in 2015), are also going to be free and fair," said Monique
Skidmore, of the University of Canberra.
The daughter of Gen.
Aung San, a hero of Burmese independence, Suu Kyi herself became an
inspiration with her long struggle for democracy in the country.
As a member of
parliament, Suu Kyi would be expected to be free to travel outside
Myanmar -- and more importantly to return -- something that wasn't
possible during her long years of repression and confinement.
She told hundreds of
journalists gathered outside her residence Friday that she didn't plan
to become a minister in the military-backed civilian government, if a
position was offered to her. Under Myanmar's constitution, lawmakers
can't hold ministerial office.
Asked where she would place Myanmar's democracy on a scale of one to 10, Suu Kyi said, "We're trying to get to one."
