Mayanmar's vote of approval clears the way for sanctions to be lifted

If Aung San Suu Kyi's apparent landslide victory in a series of by-elections is confirmed she and her National League for Democracy will not be the only winners.The victory will give the election process a quality mark the European Union's observers could not and clear the way for the United States and the EU to lift their sanctions on Burma.President Thein Sein will get even more plaudits for accelerating his reform programme. He has released political prisoners, cut peace deals with ethnic insurgency leaders, lifted censorship and media restrictions and opened up the country to scrutiny. The lifting of sanctions will bring desperately needed foreign investment in infrastructure.The president has skilfully transformed Ms Suu Kyi into an instrument of his own foreign policy without ceding any power to her.She will lead a minority in a parliament in which 25 per cent of seats are reserved for the armed forces. And though her voice will carry beyond the parliament, her role will force her to address her domestic audiences. To achieve her democratic aims, she must persuade the military-led establishment she no longer poses a threat. As the daughter of the nation's independence hero and first army chief, she believes she can persuade the army to withdraw from politics and to embolden Burma's people to assert their rights.She has said she supports a peace and reconciliation process. "I want to win the military over for peace and progress," she said last week.President Sein's advisers believe her job has become much tougher and that she will have to prove her worth as a parliamentarian. Sonny Nyunt Thein, of the Myanmar Egress policy and training centre, said her party would have to address the rice bowl concerns of an overwhelmingly poor country. To achieve her ambitions for Burma she has to be a real leader rather than a symbol, he said.