Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her ruling National League for Democracy have won their second consecutive landslide victory in national elections. But analysts still believe that democratic reforms and peace talks will be slow in the war-torn country. The National League for Democracy, which won the election on November 8, won 396 of the 498 seats in both houses of parliament, the Union Election Commission announced Saturday (November 14).
Not only does this bring the coalition more than the 322 seats needed to form a government alone, but it also brings the coalition up to nine photo background removing more seats than in 2015. At the time, the coalition was in power in the first democratic elections after decades of military rule. transition process Clashes between the military and armed ethnic minorities fighting for autonomy in the interior of Myanmar have led to the country's electoral commission cancelling contests for 22 parliamentary seats, keeping 1.4 million eligible voters from voting in some areas where ethnic parties have an advantage. Thousands of Rohingya are also unable to vote because the Myanmar government refuses to recognize them as citizens despite having lived in the country for generations. The Carter Center, a U.S.-based election watchdog group, pointed to the disenfranchisement of these individuals and pointed to the Election Commission's preference for the National League for Democracy.
But, in general, "voters are free to express their will by voting," the center said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also raised the issue of Myanmar authorities canceling elections for some parliamentary seats, disenfranchising the Rohingya and reserving many seats to the military, but said the election was still "a step in Myanmar's transition to democracy". an important step forward.” Internationally, Aung San Suu Kyi bravely confronted the military government under house arrest for years, but her reputation as a democracy fighter was lost for the bloody crackdown by the Myanmar military in Rakhine state in 2017. The well-documented operation, which included arson, rape, and torture, caused 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. T