Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party Wins Myanmar’s Election

On 8 November 2015, voters across Myanmar cast ballots in parliamentary elections that marked the country's first openly contested nationwide polls in a quarter of a century. The previous contested national election in 1990 had produced a decisive triumph for the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, but the ruling military refused to recognize the results. A subsequent election held in 2010 had been shadowed by opposition boycotts alongside allegations of widespread fraud favoring the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. The 2015 contest therefore functioned as a critical assessment of the political opening overseen by President Thein Sein.

Organized by the Union Election Commission, the ballot included ninety-one registered political parties competing across hundreds of constituencies. Candidates vied for elective seats in both houses of the national assembly, the Amyotha Hluttaw and the Pyithu Hluttaw, as well as in local State and Regional Hluttaws. However, the military retained substantial structural leverage under the 2008 constitution. A quarter of all parliamentary seats were reserved for non-elected military appointees selected directly from the armed forces. Furthermore, voting could not proceed universally. Citing security concerns, authorities cancelled voting in seven townships in Shan State and in about 416 wards and village tracts elsewhere.