Myanmar: Political history

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Suu Kyi’s November 2015 victory; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Nov 2015: NLD’s historic victory

The Times of India, Nov 14 2015

Suu Kyi's party wins historic majority in Myanmar polls  Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party attained a historic majority in Myanmar's Parliament on Friday , making it possible for them to form the Southeast Asian country's first truly civilian government in more than half a century . While complete results from last Sunday's elections will take more time to be tallied, the state election commission announced that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party had won 37 additional seats -pushing it over the threshold of 329 seats needed for a majority in the two-house Parliament.

The party with a combined parliamentary majority is able to select the next president, who can then name a Cabinet and form a new government.The 329 figure represents a majority in the 664-member parliament because voting was not held in seven constituencies due to unrest. The ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won just 40 seats so far. The handover should take place after the new Parliament meets early next year and votes on a new president, along with two vice-presidents.

The NLD will face a variety of challenges, not least of which is the huge tide of pentup expectations evidenced by he vote. Its lack of experience n public administration is another big question mark.

But the victory is a sweet econd chance for the party , which also won a landslide vic ory in the first election it con ested, in 1990, only to see the results annulled by the military, and many of its leading members harassed and jailed Few expect the army to throw up that kind of roadblock again. It is committed to the economic opportunities of a newly globalized country that encourages foreign trade and investment, and has written provisions into the constitution that guarantee it a lea ding role in running the country. The military automatically receives 25% of the seats in each house of Parliament.Another major issue for the NLD will be dealing with the fractious ethnic minorities, who have been conducting onagain, off-again insurgencies seeking greater autonomy .