A volunteer covers a large-screen TV showing images of Aung San Suu Kyi during a rainstorm at the opposition party headquarters in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015.(Photo: Amanda Mustard, AP)
The party of Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday accused the government's election commission of intentionally delaying the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>results of what<span style="color: Red;">*</span>appeared to be its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>landslide victory in national elections.
The accusation by the National League for Democracy (NLD) came as Suu Kyi told the BBC that she believes her party has won the parliamentary majority needed to form a government. The official results have not yet been declared. Partial results have been released.
The Carter Center, a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>team of election observers led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s grandson,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tuesday that it found the voting and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>counting process to be generally well-conducted but noted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>problems<span style="color: Red;">*</span>including banning members of the country’s minority Rohingya Muslim community<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from voting, and inconsistencies<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in making preliminary results available at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>constituency level.
Suu Kyi said the elections were not fair but "largely free" and that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>there had been "areas of intimidation." She said her party won about 75% of the contested seats, more than the two-thirds needed for a majority. The nation's military government previously<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reserved<span style="color: Red;">*</span>25% of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>parliamentary seats.
Speaking to reporters outside Suu Kyi's house on Tuesday, NLD spokesman Win Htien said: "The Union Election Commission has been delaying intentionally because maybe they want to play a trick or something."
"It doesn't make sense that they are releasing the results piece by piece. It shouldn't be like that," he said. "They are trying to be crooked."
USA TODAY
Profile: Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi
Election commission official Nay Pyi Taw denied that it had instructed some<span style="color: Red;">*</span>areas not to release official results and told reporters that the results will come "As soon as possible," the Myanmar Times reported. "It mainly depends on … how fast they can count," he added. "We will announce in a timely manner as their counting finishes."
The accusation raises concerns about the intentions of the ruling Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), which is backed by the military. However on Monday, Htay Oo, the party's leader, acknowledged defeat in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the nation's first contested national elections in 25 years.
USA TODAY
Reports: Myanmar ruling party concedes election defeat
The USDP came into power in the 2010 elections, marking the end of a half-century of control by a military junta and the installation of a quasi-civilian government.
Suu Kyi, 70, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, spent decades trying to bring democracy to Burma, also known as Myanmar, including 15 years under house arrest for defying the nation's military rulers. She was released in 2010.
Suu Kyi, who could be named speaker of the lower house of parliament, is barred from becoming president because of a clause added to the constitution that excludes anyone with close foreign relatives from holding the high office. Her late husband was a British national, and she has two British sons.
Suu Kyi said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>her party has a candidate for president, but the person's identity has not been revealed.
Contributing: Thomas Maresca
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed