Myanmar Opposition Claims Election Victory For Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar's opposition claims that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won a seat in parliament.

National League for Democracy senior member Tin Oo said the party's own unofficial tally showed the Nobel laureate won an estimated 82 percent of the vote in her constituency of Kawhmu, 30 kilometers south of Yangon.

The statistics are not official and the election commission has yet to release any outcome of the April 1 election.

The election, which is to fill 45 vacant seats in the 664-member legislature, is seen as the freest in Myanmar in decades and comes after months of reforms by the military-backed government.

But it will not change the balance of power in the country, which is still controlled by a group of retired army officers.

Suu Kyi has spent much of the last 20 years in prison for her attempts to bring democracy to Myanmar.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP