Myanmar: Suu Kyi’s NLD party claims victory in polls

Suu Kyi’s stronghold

Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi’s ruling party won a landslide victory in the last election in 2015 — the first polls after the nation emerged from nearly five decades of the military rule in 2011.

The NLD government has been hampered by a clause in the 2008 army-drafted constitution that gives the military 25% of the seats in the country’s parliament, allowing it to block constitutional reforms.

Despite concerns about the likelihood of violence during the election, the People’s Alliance for Credible Elections (PACE), one of the biggest election monitors in the Southeast Asian country, reported that Sunday voting was largely peaceful.

Disenfranchised minorities

Once seen as a stalwart of democracy in the region, Suu Kyi has seen a fall from grace in the international community for her handling of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. A major concern during the 2020 election was the disenfranchisement of millions of Rohingya Muslims, many of whom have been stripped of fundamental civil rights.

“A core principle of elections under international law is universal and equal suffrage, and that is not what took place yesterday [Sunday] ,” said Ismail Wolff, regional director of the Fortify Rights organization.

“The international community must unequivocally condemn the disenfranchisement of Rohingya and other ethnic nationalities or risk paving the path for future violations,” he added.