Myanmar’s election came down to a vote against authoritarianism. This week the National League for Democracy, president Thein Sein and the military will begin mapping the transition

The final tallies in Myanmar’s 8 November general election are still trickling in – ballots are even arriving by helicopter to speed up the process in more remote areas – but the result has been clear since the evening of the vote, when crowds began gathering on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other cities, cheering and waving red flags. Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy have recorded a landslide win.

Largely on the back of the Nobel laureate’s personal popularity, the NLD was always expected to do well. But with the military holding 25 per cent of seats in all national and regional parliaments, attention had focused on whether the party could secure 67 per cent of seats, giving it a “supermajority” – more than 50 per cent even after military MPs are factored in. This would enable it to select and appoint the president without the need to negotiate with other political stakeholders.

The NLD has blown that target out of the water…

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