Aung San Suu Kyi wins by-election for parliament
BURMA: By-election for parliament has been won by Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi , her party says, after a landmark vote which saw 45 seats contested. She had easily won the vote in Kawhmu, though official counts have not yet finished says Ms Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). It was the first election NLD since 1990.The military-backed ruling party remains dominant but the vote is a key test of promised political reforms.
“We hope the whole day can be run in a peaceful way and we’ll make an evaluation later on the basis of all the polling sessions that we will be seeing,” EU observer Ivo Belet said. Some voting irregularities have been alleged ny NLD in the capital, Naypyidaw says BBC correspondent.
“This is happening around the country. The election commission is responsible for what is occurring,” Nyan Win said.
Ms Aung San Suu Kyi refused to take part in the 2010 election, which ushered in the current reforms.She spent much of the following 20 years from 1990 under house arrest.He party is one of 17 opposition parties taking part in Sunday’s election.
She was standing for a lower house seat in the Kawhmu Township constituency, outside Rangoon.
She visited on Sunday polling stations in Kawhmu and then head towards Rangoon. “Still we are determined to go forward because this is what our people want,” she said.
She says all Burma’s ethnic minorities must be made to feel they have a voice in the political system and that President Thein Sein still needs to convince more wary parliamentarians that it is in the country’s interests to open up to the outside world.
