Early Results Suggest Resounding Victory for Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD in Myanmar

Results are trickling in from Myanmar where vote counting is underway following the country's general election. Of the 12 seats so far declared, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has taken every one.

All 12 seats are in the lower house of the Myanmar parliament, also known as the House of Representatives. They are also all in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, a southern city that is Myanmar's largest. The news may come as a blow to Myanmar's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) which only secured one regional seat in Yangon. The NLD took 23.

More results are expected at 9 p.m. local time (9.30 a.m. EST) according to Myanmar's election commission. Should the NLD claim power, it will end decades of military rule in Myanmar.

Suu Kyi's NLD party is claiming to have won 70 percent of the votes counted, taking it above the 67 percent threshold needed to win. The threshold is so high because a quarter of all seats are reserved for unelected military officials, expected to side with the USDP.

Full results will probably not be known for a few days while a president will not be chosen until February or even later. Despite her huge popularity, Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from becoming president because she has foreign children with her late British husband. Nonetheless she has said she will lead Myanmar in a role that is "above the president."

Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest in Myanmar for attempting to bring democracy to the country, has hinted at victory. ""I think you all have the idea of the results," she said.

Though elections went relatively smoothly, hundreds of thousands of people, including Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims say they were denied voting rights. Of the 30 million eligible voters, around 80 percent headed to the polls to cast their vote.

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