With all the results declared for contested seats in the general elections in Myanmar held earlier this month, the National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi has won 255 out of 323 seats in the Lower House and 135 out of 168 seats in the Upper House. This gives it an almost 80 per cent win even as it translates into only 60 per cent majority in the national Parliament where the military has a quarter of seats reserved for them.
The military backed incumbent Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP),which had hoped to win at least 25 per cent of the seats, that would have kept it in contention to form the government in support with the military, could only bag around ten per cent.
In the elections for the legislative assemblies, the NLD has taken similar majority in all the seven Bamar majority regions and in five of the seven ethnic majority states. In the Shan State the USDP could score more wins than the NLD and, along with the military, it got a 51 per cent majority. In the Rakhine state, the ethnic Arakan National Party has secured 49 per cent of seats while NLD could manage only 9 out of 47.
Two aspects stand out on the electoral front. One is the peaceful manner in which the elections were held, that have been deemed as being most free and transparent even if some have withheld from terming it as also fair. Myanmar, it can still be said, is definitely on the road to democratic transition even as there is still a long way to go in terms of the constitutional framework. (Courtesy of The Wire)
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