YANGON—The US Embassy in Myanmar has praised the Myanmar people for keeping the country’s democratic transition moving forward after witnessing a high voter turnout despite a surge in coronavirus cases, bomb scares and controversies surrounding the missteps of the country’s election body.
The embassy said Monday that the US commended the people of Myanmar on “reaching the next important milestone on your path to democracy.”
In Myanmar, more than 37 million of the country’s 56 million citizens are eligible to vote. Although the Union Election Commission (UEC) has yet to announce the number of voters, people across the country reported seeing high numbers of voters. In Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar, hundreds of voters were still waiting to cast ballots at a polling station at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday night, hours after the official closing time.
“While we note the many challenges, we look ahead towards our continued friendship and partnership with the people of Myanmar as you work towards a more democratic, peaceful and prosperous future,” the embassy said.
Sunday’s election was the second democratic vote held in Myanmar since the end of military rule in 2011. The first was held in 2015.
According to the UEC, 87 parties contested seats in the Union, state and regional parliaments.
Although the UEC had yet to announce official poll results as of Monday afternoon, a member of the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) Central Executive Committee, Dr. Myo Nyunt, said that the party had already secured more than enough votes to form the next government, according to initial counts.
According to an announcement by the NLD chair on Monday afternoon, the party had so far secured 48 seats in the Lower House of Parliament, two seats in the Upper House, and 93 seats in the state and regional parliaments. The NLD needs a total of 322 seats in the Union Parliament (Upper House and Lower House) to form a government.
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