Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins in election 'landslide'

Aung San Suu Kyi has won enough parliamentary seats to form the next government in Myanmar while the military backed opposition has called for a new vote.

Ms Suu Kyi's party, National League for Democracy (NLD) has secured 346 seats, more than the 322 needed to secure a majority. According to Myanmar's constitution, Ms Suu Kyi's government is required to govern with military involvement. 

The military backed oppostion, the Union Solidarity and Development party won 24 seats and have demanded a new vote "in order to have an election that is free, fair and unbiased and free from unfair campaigning". However, domestic and international observers have reported that the election ran smoothly. 

Observers have questioned the credibility of the election due to the disenfranchisement of the Rohingya population.  In October, the election commission cancelled voting in conflict -hit states including Rakhine, Shan and Kachin. The commission stated that they "were not in a position to hold a free and fair election". These mass cancellations have left nearly two million people disenfranchised. 

Ms Suu Kyi has been heavily criticised for her response to the military crackdown on the Rohingya population which is now subject to a genocide investigation. 

Read more here: Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi heads to Hague to battle genocide charges. 

In 2017, a brutal crackdown on the northern Rakhine state led over 730,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. The UN has reported that this crackdown was executed with "genocidal intent" and included mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson. Ms Suu Kyi has rejected genocide accusations but admits war crimes may have been committed.

Read more from Reuters here and the BBC here

 

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