Burma’s incumbent government has acknowledged that the opposition National League for Democracy [NLD] party is cruising to a majority in the country’s next parliament.
Speaking to CNN’s Amanpour programme on Tuesday night, Minister for Information and President’s Office Spokesperson Ye Htut said:
“Even though there is no official confirmation from the UEC [Union Election Commission], as far as we know from the early signals there is a majority for the NLD in the coming parliament.”
Ye Htut went on to congratulate Suu Kyi on behalf of President Thein Sein.
“The president is waiting for the official result of the election,” he said. “I, on behalf of President U Thein Sein want to congratulate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD for the election and wishing they can fulfil the desire of the Myanmar [Burma] people for big change in the future.”
As of 9am Wednesday, Burmese time, the NLD had claimed 134 of the 149 Lower House seats and 29 of the 33 Upper House seats officially announced by the UEC. The announcement included Suu Kyi’s victory in her Lower House seat of Kawhmu, a rural district south of Rangoon city.
To wrest political control from Burma’s military and its civilian proxy, the now-ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, the NLD needs a total of 329 seats across both houses of Union Parliament.
[related]
The NLD are roughly halfway to their target already, and unofficial figures coming in from NLD monitors present at counting stations point to an inevitable election landslide for the party. Suu Kyi told the BBC on Tuesday that she predicts her party will control a 75 percent stake in Burma’s bicameral parliament. Such dominance would ensure Suu Kyi is able to install the president and cabinet and enable a second parliamentary push to change the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.
In three separate letters each dated 10 November, Suu Kyi wrote to Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, President Thein Sein and Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann requesting the quartet meet to discuss the ramifications of the NLD’s historic election showing.
