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Myanmar president, military to respect elections results: Official

The supporters of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi gather outside her National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters in Yangon, Myanmar, November 9, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

Myanmar’s President Thein Sein and the army will respect the results of the recent “free and fair” parliamentary elections in the Southeast Asian country, the president’s spokesman says.

Ye Htut, who is also Myanmar’s information minister, made the remark in a Wednesday post on his Facebook page, adding, “In the post-election period, the country’s leaders will discuss maintaining peace and stability of the country.”

The partial results of the Sunday elections released so far indicate a massive victory for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which has won over 90 percent of the seats in the lower house and is well ahead in the upper house and regional assemblies.

A former British colony, Myanmar had been under army rule for decades until 2011, when it formally transitioned to a civilian government, but the army continues to wield significant political sway in the country.

Also on Wednesday, Suu Kyi requested meetings with the military chief, the president and the chairman of parliament next week, apparently to discuss the formation of a new government.

It is “very crucial that the government implements, for the pride of the country and the peaceful desire of people,” the results of the elections, Suu Kyi wrote in similar letters to the three officials, adding, “Based on the national reconciliation, we would want to meet.”

Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi looks at supporters after speaking about the general elections in Yangon, Myanmar, November 9, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

In response to Suu Kyi’s request, the spokesman said the meeting would only take place after the election commission has finished all its work.

In another development, the NLD said in a Wednesday statement that Myanmar’s president had sent a congratulatory message to it, promising to “pursue a peaceful transfer” of power following the elections.

“I would like to congratulate you, the NLD, for leading the race for parliamentary seats,” the statement quoted Sein as saying.

The landmark elections came while Muslim candidates were barred from taking part in the race, and the country’s persecuted minority Rohingya Muslims were also deprived of the right to vote.

Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, mostly living in the western state of Rakhine, have been subject to systematic repression by extremist Buddhists since the country’s independence in 1948.


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