Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday that her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won about 75 percent of the seats in the 664-seat parliament, but the official results from Sunday's election are trickling in. As of early Tuesday, the government of the military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) has announced the results for only 88 seats, with the NLD winning 78 of those and the USDP just five. The slow pace has NLD officials nervous.
The election commission is "delaying intentionally because maybe they want to play a trick or something," NLD spokesman Win Tien said after a meeting Tuesday at Suu Kyi's residence. "It doesn't make sense that they are releasing the results piece by piece. It shouldn't be like that," he added. "They are trying to be crooked." Suu Kyi herself was more upbeat, telling the BBC that unlike after her party's landslide victory in 1990, this time the military would respect the results. "I find that the people are far more politicized now than they were," she said, "so it's much more difficult for those who wish to engage in irregularities to get away with it."
Myanmar's constitution, written by the military junta, dictates that a quarter of the seats in parliament be reserved for unelected members of the military, and Suu Kyi is barred from being named president by the legislature. On Tuesday, Suu Kyi said that she will be "making all the decisions as the leader of the winning party" anyway, with a colleague holding the office as a stand-in. When the BBC asked her if that was fair, much less legal, she responded: "I believe in transparency and accountability... it works much better if I'm open about it if I tell the people."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why social media is obsessed with cortisolIn The Spotlight Wellness trend is the latest response to an increasingly maligned hormone
-
Peter Mandelson called Epstein his 'best pal' in birthday noteSpeed Read The UK's ambassador to Washington described the late convicted paedophile as an 'intelligent, sharp-witted man'
-
'Vampire energy' could be causing your electric bill to riseUnder the Radar Wasted energy could account for up to 10% of home use
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
