Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) headed by Aung San Suu Kyi appeared headed for a landslide victory Monday as preliminary results showed the party had secured a clear majority in the lower house of Parliament.
"We are on track to win more than 70 percent of seats around the country," party spokesman Win Htein told AFP. Seventy percent of seats will give a comfortable majority to NLD to form the next government.
"We won't be able to announce the results yet. All I can say is that the NLD is in a very good position," the party's co-founder, U Tin Oo, told supporters gathered at party headquarters in Rangoon, according to Independent.
The army-backed ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) conceded defeat to NLD.
"We lost," USDP's acting chairman Htay Oo told Reuters. "We have to find out the reason why we lost. However, we do accept the results without any reservations. We still don't know the final results for sure."
Several senior USDP leaders, including house speaker and presidential hopeful Shwe Mann, conceded defeat in initial hours of vote counting, according to Xinhua.
The Union Election Commission (UEC) is expected to publish the official results later on Monday.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is barred from the presidency by a provision in the army-drafted Constitution, said on Thursday that she would be "above the president" if her party wins the election.
"I will be above the president if the NLD wins the election. I'll run the government and we'll have a president who will work in accordance with the policies of the NLD," she had said, according to NPR.
Nearly 80 percent of more than 30 million eligible voters cast their ballots in Myanmar's landmark parliamentary election on Sunday, Nov. 8, as HNGN reported previously.
