Myanmar’s opp. party rejects poll results, crying foul

YANGON, Myanmar

The main opposition party in Myanmar refused to accept the election results after an early unofficial tally suggested it suffered a humiliating defeat in last Sunday’s elections.

More than 33 million Myanmar voters had cast their ballots in general elections on Nov. 8, the second such democratic election since the end of a military rule in the country in 2011.

Ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, claimed a landslide victory with more than half seats in the national legislature that will elect a new president.

The victory claim was based on the unofficial results tallied by media and political parties as complete official results by the Union Election Commission may not be known for days.

Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by the former junta leaders, on Wednesday said some election processes were flawed and unfair.

“We instructed our candidates not to confirm the results of their race because we don’t accept the whole result of the elections,” USDP spokesman Nandar Hla Myint told a news conference.

The party claimed the election had been conducted unfairly and urged the public to send in evidence of “fraud” to them so it could mount legal challenges.

“We would complain to UEC for any irregularities through the legal processes,” he said.

USDP also called on the commission to cooperate with the military to re-conduct the elections in a fair and transparent manner.

Ruling party’s spokesman Aung Shin said USDP has the right to request another election if it has enough evidence to prove election frauds.

“Yes, they could ask for another election, but they should keep in mind that there would be consequences,” he told Anadolu Agency by phone on Wednesday.

The country’s military on Monday issued a statement, stating that it has formed a team to speed up peace negotiations with ethnic rebel groups after the election was conducted peacefully and successfully.

According to unofficial results, NLD seems to repeat its landslide victory in the 2015 general elections.