Burma's democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday hailed her landslide election victory as a "triumph for the people" but sought to reassure the government, calling for "national reconciliation".
Burma's democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday hailed her landslide election victory as a "triumph for the people" but sought to reassure the government, calling for "national reconciliation".
In a speech at the Yangon headquarters of the National League for Democracy, she warned supporters to be magnanimous in victory and "not upset the feelings of those on the other side". Observers said there was concern that her victory had been so overwhelming that President Thein Sein's Union Solidarity and Development Party is "staring into the abyss" for the next elections in 2015. According to Suu Kyi's aides, the NLD won 43 of the 44 constituencies it contested.
The victory is expected to accelerate moves to lift sanctions against Burma - the European Union will decide later this month - but concerns are growing that it may also leave the president's reform programme vulnerable to challenge from hardliners within the country's military establishment. Since meeting Suu Kyi last August, he has unveiled a series of unexpected reforms including the release of more than 600 political prisoners, peace deals with ethnic insurgency groups, and the lifting of restrictions on press freedom.
The US and the European Union will be watching how the president and his military backers react to the NLD win. Suu Kyi said she hoped the victory would usher in a "genuine democratic atmosphere" and the result showed that the people "have decided they must be involved in the political process".
"It's not so important how many seats [we won], though we are gratified that we've won so many, but the fact that the people are so enthusiastic about participating in the democratic process," she said. Although she plans to lodge complaints of intimidation and irregularities during the campaign, she stressed she was not seeking "vengeance" but to prevent similar abuses in future elections.
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