Massive turnout estimated for Myanmar election
Print Edition
MILLIONS of people voted yesterday in Myanmar’s landmark election, with a massive turnout that could catapult Aung San Suu Kyi’s party to power and finally end decades of military control.
Voters queued from before dawn in huge numbers to cast their ballots for the first time in a quarter of a century.
As counting got under way, early indications were of an “80 percent” turnout, said Union Election Commission deputy director Thant Zin Aung — a figure the opposition believe favors their bid for a majority.
Thousands of supporters gathered outside the Yangon headquarters of the National League for Democracy in the hope of some indication of victory from Suu Kyi.
However, the woman known affectionately as “The Lady” did not appear. Instead NLD patron Tin Oo read a message from the party’s figurehead. “I urge you to wait for the result from your own homes,” he said, adding: “When the result comes out, I want you to accept it calmly.”
More than 30 million people were eligible to vote.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by the constitution, and the NLD faces an uphill struggle as a quarter of seats are reserved for the military.
In the capital Naypyidaw, President Thein Sein smiled for the cameras and held up his little finger, stained with purple ink, after voting.
His army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is the main obstacle to an NLD victory.
Many voters remain nervous about how the powerful army will react if it loses. However, after casting his vote in the capital, army chief Min Aung Hlaing said his troops would respect the voice of the electorate.
“Just as the winner accepts the result, so should the loser,” he said.
Suu Kyi was mobbed by reporters as she voted in Yangon.
But the day belonged to the ordinary people, many wearing traditional longyi sarongs, who swarmed to polling stations across the nation.
It is the first poll the NLD has contested since 1990, when it claimed a landslide win only to see the army ignore the result and condemn Suu Kyi to house arrest.
The 70-year-old is not allowed to be president under a charter that blocks anyone with foreign children from top office — Suu Kyi’s two sons are British.
Last Thursday, she declared an NLD win would see her take a position “above the president” — a challenge to the army that’s spent 25 years trying to hamper her political ascent.
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