By Casey McClaren '17
On November 8th, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) held free elections following five decades of military rule and rigged the elections. The National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, appeared to have won almost every seat in Parliament (it turned out that the party ended up winning 77% of the seats). Yet, the military will retain at least 25% of seats and Suu Kyi will be unable to serve as President because her deceased husband is British; these rules are included in the Constitution written by the military.Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, who was assassinated only six months before independence, in July 1947. She studied at Oxford University in the UK. It was there that she met her husband and ultimately settled in the UK to raise their two children. She returned to Rangoon, Myanmar in 1988 to care of her mother; she found the nation in the midst of political chaos. Inspired by Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, Suu Kyi began to travel across the country to organize non-violent rallies and call for democratic reform. Suu Kyi was put under house arrest at various intervals during her life to prevent her from taking on an active role in politics. In 1991, following a victory by her National League for Democracy (which the military later nullified), she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She has been criticized for not speaking up for ethnic minorities as they faced persecution and violence, but has seemingly won a victory in elections among them.The United States Assistant Secretary of State, the highest ranking officer for the East Pacific, has indicated that he and other members of the international community would ensure that military chiefs in Myanmar respect the results of the final vote. Results took a while to come in from areas with poor infrastructure but overall, the voting process did not take too long to finalize. Aung San Suu Kyi, though unable to serve as President, had said that she would rule in a “position above the president” if elected (as she has been), though she has not made her meaning clear.Sources:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/11/09/reports-myanmar-ruling-party-concedes-election-defeat/75440834/http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/11/07/the-latest-polls-open-in-myanmars-historic-electionhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11685977http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/asia/myanmar-elections/https://www.devex.com/news/myanmar-s-development-progress-at-stake-as-historic-polls-conclude-87259http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/world/asia/myanmar-votes-election-aung-san-suu-kyi-burma.html?ref=world