Suu Kyi's party claims landslide win in Myanmar vote

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi claimed on Monday a by-election landslide for her party, which she hoped would mark the beginning of a new era for Myanmar after a historic vote that could prompt the West to end sanctions.   

The charismatic Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who led the struggle against military rule in the former Burma for two decades, was one of 44 candidates her National League for Democracy Party (NLD) said won all but one of the legislative seats being contested.   

The by-elections followed a year of astonishing change for a country that was in the grip of military rule for decades: the government has freed hundreds of political prisoners, held talks with ethnic minority rebels, relaxed censorship, allowed trade unions and showed signs of pulling back from the economic and political orbit of giant neighbour China.   

"It is not so much our triumph as a triumph of the people, who have decided that they must be involved in the political process of this country," Suu Kyi told a crowd of cheering supporters at the NLD's headquarters in Yangon.   

"We hope that this will be the beginning of a new era, when there will be more emphasis on the role of the people in the everyday politics of our country.   

"We hope that all other parties that took part in the elections will be in a position to cooperate with us to create a genuinely democratic atmosphere in our nation."  

The NLD, taking part in elections for the first time since it won 1990 polls which the military ignored, contested all but one of the 45 vacant seats in the legislature.   

Reuters