Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi today claimed a byelection landslide for her party and said she hoped it would mark the beginning of a new era for the country after a historic vote that could prompt the West to ease sanctions.
The charismatic Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who led the struggle against military rule in the former Burma for two decades, was one of 44 candidates her National League for Democracy (NLD) said had won all but one of the legislative seats being contested.
The byelections followed a year of change in a country that was under the grip of military rule for decades: the government has freed hundreds of political prisoners, held talks with ethnic minority rebels, relaxed media censorship, allowed trade unions and showed signs of pulling back from the economic and political orbit of giant neighbour China.
"It is not so much our triumph as a triumph of the people, who have decided that they must be involved in the political process of this country," Ms Suu Kyi told cheering supporters at the NLD's headquarters in Rangoon.
"We hope that this will be the beginning of a new era, when there will be more emphasis on the role of the people in the everyday politics of our country. We hope that all other parties that took part in the elections will be in a position to co-operate with us to create a genuinely democratic atmosphere."
Yesterday's polls were the NLD's first since 1990, when it trounced the military's proxy party in an election for a constitution-drafting assembly. The junta ignored the result.
There was no reaction today to the NLD's success from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was formed by the military junta that ceded power a year ago and will remain the biggest party in parliament.
The Election Commission has not announced any results for the elections for 45 seats. If confirmed, the sweep would mean the NLD even won four seats in the capital, Naypyitaw, a new city built by the former junta where most of the residents are government employees and military personnel. They had been expected to back the USDP, the party of most of the cabinet ministers.
The United States and European Union had hinted they could lift some sanctions - imposed over the past two decades in response to human rights abuses - if the election was free and fair. Lifting sanctions could unleash a wave of investment in the resource-rich country bordering India and China.
But to be regarded as credible, the vote needs the blessing of Ms Suu Kyi, who was freed from house arrest in November 2010.She agreed in November to end the NLD's boycott of a quasi-democratic system created and dominated by the same ex-generals who persecuted the pro-democracy camp.
That move was a giant leap of faith for Ms Suu Kyi, who has found common ground with President Thein Sein, a former junta heavyweight who has surprised the world with the most dramatic political reforms since the military took power in a 1962 coup.
Western governments are waiting for her endorsement of the poll to start reviewing political and trade sanctions, but today that was not forthcoming, although her criticism was restrained. She said there were flaws in the election, which would not be overlooked.
"We will point out all the irregularities that took place, not in any spirit of vengeance or anger, but because we do not think that these should be overlooked . . . with the intention of making sure that things improve in future."
Observers who spoke to Reuters said they saw no mass fraud.
Reuters