San Suu Kyi ganhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Burma's democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi wins triumphant return to parliament to face former captors

• 
  Gleeful scenes outside the National League for Democracy HQ in Yangon as more than 1,000 supporters greet unofficial result
  
• Victory
  in landmark by-election will not change the balance of power, but its
  symbolic significance could lead to improved relations with the West
  

By
Associated Press Reporter


PUBLISHED:

11:27 GMT, 31 March 2012

|

UPDATED:

15:16 GMT, 1 April 2012

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Supporters
of Myanmar's opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi erupted in euphoric
cheers today after her party said she won a parliamentary seat in a
landmark election, setting the stage for her to take public office for
the first time.
The
victory, if confirmed, would mark a major milestone in the Southeast
Asian nation, where the military has ruled almost exclusively for a
half-century and where a new reform-minded government is seeking
legitimacy and a lifting of Western sanctions.
It
would also mark the biggest prize of Suu Kyi's political career, and a
spectacular reversal of fortune for the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize
laureate who the former junta had kept imprisoned in her lakeside home
for the better part of two decades.




Champion: Pro-democracy candidate Aung San Suu
Kyi smiles outside a school used as a polling station in today's
parliamentary by-elections, as she inspects voting in the constituency
of Kawmhu, Myanmar



Joy: National League for Democracy (NLD)
supporters celebrate outside the party office as they watch unofficial
results showing a strong return in Yangon




High hopes: NLD supporters cheer and brandish a portrait of their champion Ms Suu Kyi as unofficial results arrive



Emotional: Supporters of the National League for
Democracy celebrate the unofficial results as they gather outside the
party headquarters in Yangon





The
victory claim was displayed on a digital signboard above the opposition
National League for Democracy's headquarters in Myanmar's main city,
Yangon, where more than 1,000 supporters began wildly shouting upon
learning the news.
'We won!
We won!' her supporters chanted while clapping, dancing, waving red
party flags and gesturing with thumbs-up and V-for-victory signs.
Earlier,
the party had claimed that Suu Kyi was ahead with 65 per cent of the
vote in 82 of her constituency's 129 polling stations. The party had
staff and volunteers spread throughout the vast rice-farming district,
who were calling in preliminary results by phone to their headquarters
in Yangon.




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The results must be
confirmed by the official electoral commission, however, which has yet
to release any outcome and may not make an official declaration for
days.
The victory claim came despite
allegations by her National League for Democracy party that 'rampant
irregularities' had taken place on voting day. Party spokesman Nyan Win
said that by midday alone the party had filed more than 50 complaints to
the Election Commission.

He said most alleged violations concerned
waxed ballot papers that made it difficult to mark votes. There were
also ballot cards that lacked the Election Commission's seal, which
would render them invalid.



Hopeful: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi (right) greets supporters as she travels across the Kawhmu
constituency this morning. The polls have now opened, with the
pro-democracy party leader standing for a seat for the first time




Popular: A supporter kisses Ms Suu Kyi, leader
of the National League for Democracy (NLD), as she visits polling
stations in her constituency. She is expected to win the seat, but the
significance of a victory will be largely symbolic






Winning hearts: Ms Suu Kyi carries a bouquet as
she tours the villages of the Kawmhu constituency. The historical
by-elections are seen as an important vote of confidence for the country
as it continues on the road to political and diplomatic reform

Today's
by-election was called to fill just 45 vacant seats in Myanmar's
664-seat national Parliament and will not change the balance of power in
a new government that is nominally civilian but still heavily
controlled by retired generals. Suu Kyi and other opposition candidates
would have almost no say even if they win all the seats they are
contesting.
But her
candidacy has resurrected hope among Myanmar's downtrodden masses, who
have grown up for generations under strict military rule. If Suu Kyi
takes office as expected, it would symbolise a giant leap toward
national reconciliation.
'She may not be able to do anything at
this stage,' said one voter, Go Khehtay, who cast his ballot for Suu
Kyi at Wah Thin Kha, one of the dirt-poor villages in the rural
constituency south of Yangon that she is vying to represent.

'But one
day, I believe she'll be able to bring real change.'

Earlier, crowds of supporters mobbed
Suu Kyi as she visited a polling station in the village after spending
the night there. The tiny community of 3,000 farmers has no electricity
or running water, and its near-total underdevelopment illustrates the
profound challenges facing the country as it slowly emerges from 49
years of army rule.



Anticipation: Election officials sit as they
wait for their polling station to open in the constituency where Ms Suu
Kyi stands as a candidate











Votes open: An election official (left) smiles
through the gate of a polling station, while a young Karen tribal boy
perches on his father's shoulders (right) as constituents wait to vote
in the village of Wah Thin Kha today





Road to change: Myanmar villagers walk towards a
polling station in the village of Wah Thin Kha, where Ms Suu Kyi spent
last night


Despite the reports of widespread
irregularities, a confirmed victory by Suu Kyi could cheer Western
powers and nudge them closer to easing economic sanctions they have
imposed on the country for years.

Suu Kyi
herself told reporters on Friday that the campaigning for today's vote
had been anything but free or fair, but that she was pressing for
forward with her candidacy because it's 'what our people want'.
Last
year, Myanmar's long-entrenched military junta handed power to a
civilian government dominated by retired officers that skeptics decried
as a proxy for continued military rule. But the new rulers - who came to
power in a 2010 vote that critics say was neither free nor fair - have
surprised the world with a wave of reform.
The government of President Thein
Sein, himself a retired lieutenant general, has freed political
prisoners, signed truces with rebel groups and opened a direct dialogue
with Suu Kyi, who wields enough moral authority to greatly influence the
Myanmar policy of the U.S. and other powers.

Suu Kyi's decision to endorse Thein Sein's reforms so far and run in today's election represents a political gamble.



Ready: Election officials show an empty ballot box today, just before opening a polling station in Kawhmu township



Taking part: Burmese voters wait in line for a
polling booth at a school in Wah Thin Kha, the village where Ms Suu Kyi
spent the night before today's election






Historic: A Myanmar woman casts her vote today at a polling station in Mayangon Township, in the western part of Yangon, Myanmar




Choice: A woman with a bamboo hat casts her vote in front of the Myanmar flag at a polling station in Mayangone Township











Last minute: Left, a voter casts her ballot in
Mayangone Township while, right, Ms Suu Kyi greets a policeman as she
inspects a polling booth during one last tour of the constituency before
the votes are counted


Once in parliament, she can seek to
influence policy and challenge the government from within. But she also
risks legitimising a regime she has fought against for decades while
gaining little true legislative power.

Suu Kyi is in a 'strategic symbiosis'
with some of the country's generals and ex-generals, said Maung Zarni, a
Myanmar expert and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.

'They need her and she needs them to
break the 25 years of political stalemate,' Zarni said. 'She holds the
key for the regime's need for its international acceptance and
normalisation.'

The poll marks the first foray into
electoral politics by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party
since winning a landslide election victory in 1990. The military
annulled those results and kept Suu Kyi in detention for much of the
next two decades. The party boycotted the last vote in 2010, but in
January the government amended key electoral laws, paving the way for a
run in this weekend's ballot.
A
new reform was expected on Monday when Myanmar's currency will be
largely unshackled from government controls that kept the kyat at an
artificially high rate for decades. The International Monetary fund says
the change could lift a major constraint on growth in one of Asia's
least developed countries.




Jubilation: Novice Buddhist nuns wave as Ms Suu Kyi's cavalcade drives past on the outskirts of Yangon

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123178/Burmas-democracy-campaigner-Suu-Kyi-prepares-head-head-captors-countrys-elections.html#ixzz1qpC5ESqS



Apoiadores
da oposição de Mianmar ícone Aung San Suu Kyi começou em euforia
Felicidades hoje depois de seu partido disse que ela ganhou um assento parlamentar em um
eleição marco, preparando o terreno para ela assumir o cargo público para
pela primeira vez.
O
vitória, se confirmada, seria um marco importante no Sudeste
Nação asiática, onde o militar se pronunciou quase que exclusivamente para uma
meio século e onde um governo reformista nova busca
legitimidade e um levantamento das sanções ocidentais.
Ele
também marcaria o maior prêmio da carreira política de Suu Kyi, e um
reversão espetacular de fortuna para a 66-year-old Prêmio Nobel da Paz
laureado com o que a antiga junta tinha mantido preso em sua casa junto ao lago
para a melhor parte de duas décadas.




Campeão: Pro-democracia Aung San Suu candidato
Sorri Kyi fora de uma escola usada como local de votação em hoje
parlamentar por-eleições, como ela inspeciona voto no círculo eleitoral
de Kawmhu, Mianmar



Joy: Liga Nacional pela Democracia (LND)
partidários comemoram fora do escritório do partido como eles vêem não oficial
resultados mostram um forte retorno em Yangon




Grandes esperanças: Cheer partidários NLD e brandir um retrato de seu campeão Suu Kyi como resultados não-oficiais chegam



Os defensores da Liga Nacional para: Emocional
Democracia comemorar os resultados não-oficiais como eles se reúnem fora da
sede do partido em Yangun





O
reivindicação vitória foi exibido em uma tabuleta digital acima da oposição
Liga Nacional para a sede da democracia na principal cidade de Mianmar,
Yangon, onde mais de 1.000 torcedores começaram a gritar descontroladamente sobre
aprendendo a notícia.
"Nós vencemos!
Nós vencemos! " seus partidários gritavam enquanto batiam palmas, dançando, agitando vermelho
bandeiras do partido e gesticulando com sinais de polegares para cima e V-para a vitória.
Mais cedo,
o partido alegava que Suu Kyi estava à frente com 65 por cento do
votar em 82 de seu eleitorado de 129 assembleias de voto. O partido tinha
funcionários e voluntários espalhados por todo o distrito de cultivo de arroz-grande,
que estavam chamando em resultados preliminares por telefone para a sua sede
em Yangon.




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Os resultados devem ser
confirmada pela comissão eleitoral oficial, no entanto, que ainda
para liberar qualquer resultado e não podem fazer uma declaração oficial para
dia.
A alegação vitória veio apesar
alegações de sua Liga Nacional para a Democracia que "galopante
irregularidades "teve lugar no dia da votação. Partido porta-voz Nyan Win
disse que ao meio-dia sozinho o partido tinha apresentado mais de 50 queixas para
a Comissão Eleitoral.

Ele disse alegadas violações mais preocupados
encerados boletins de voto que dificultavam a marcar votos. Havia
também cartões de voto que não tinham selo da Comissão Eleitoral, que
seria torná-los inválidos.



Esperançoso: a oposição de Mianmar Aung San Suu
Kyi (à direita) cumprimenta partidários, enquanto ela viaja por todo o Kawhmu
eleitorado esta manhã. As urnas já abriram, com a
pró-democracia de pé líder do partido a uma vaga pela primeira vez




Popular: Um beijos apoiador Suu Kyi, líder
da Liga Nacional pela Democracia (LND), como ela visita votação
estações em seu eleitorado. Ela é esperado para ganhar o assento, mas o
significado de uma vitória será em grande parte simbólico






Ganhar corações: Aung San Suu Kyi carrega um buquê como
ela percorre as aldeias do eleitorado Kawmhu. A histórica
subprodutos eleições são vistas como um importante voto de confiança para o país
uma vez que continua no caminho para a reforma política e diplomática

Hoje
por-eleição foi chamado para preencher apenas 45 cargos vagos em Mianmar
664-sede nacional do Parlamento e não vai mudar o equilíbrio de poder em
um novo governo que é, nominalmente civil, mas ainda fortemente
controlado por generais reformados. Suu Kyi e outros candidatos da oposição
teria quase nada a dizer mesmo que ganhar todos os lugares que eles são
contestação.
Mas sua
candidatura ressuscitou a esperança entre as massas oprimidas de Mianmar, que
cresceram para as gerações sob o regime militar estrito. Se Suu Kyi
toma posse como esperado, seria simbolizar um salto gigante em direção a
reconciliação nacional.
"Ela pode não ser capaz de fazer qualquer coisa
nesta fase ", disse um eleitor, Go Khehtay, que depositou seu voto de Suu
Kyi em Wah Fino Kha, uma das aldeias sujeira-pobres no meio rural
eleitorado sul de Yangon que ela está competindo para representar.

"Mas uma
dia, eu acredito que ela vai ser capaz de trazer uma verdadeira mudança. "

Mais cedo, uma multidão de apoiantes assediado
Suu Kyi quando ela visitou uma estação de voto na aldeia, depois de passar
a noite lá. A pequena comunidade de 3.000 agricultores não tem eletricidade
ou água corrente, e seu subdesenvolvimento quase total ilustra o
profundos desafios que o país enfrenta, pois emerge lentamente a partir de 49
anos de regime militar.



Antecipação: Autoridades eleitorais sentar-se à medida que
esperar para a sua assembleia de voto a abrir no círculo eleitoral onde Suu
Kyi se destaca como um candidato











Votos abrir: Um funcionário da eleição (à esquerda) sorrisos
através da porta da estação de voto, enquanto um jovem Karen menino tribal
poleiros sobre os ombros de seu pai (à direita) como constituintes esperar para votar
na aldeia de Wah Fino Kha hoje