Suu Kyi party wins in Myanmar election

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s Myanmar opposition party won a historic parliamentary victory Friday, according to reports, taking 90 percent of seats.

Friday’s landslide for the National League for Democracy (NLD) comes on the fifth anniversary of Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest after 21 years of imprisonment.

{mosads}Suu Kyi is one of the world’s most recognizable activists for Democracy, having peacefully struggled against Myanmar’s military rule since her initial arrest in 1989.

CNN said that Myanmar held its election last Sunday, its first freely-held vote in 25 years. Suu Kyi was reelected to her parliamentary seat for the Kawhmu constituency in Yangon, the nation’s capital.

Suu Kyi is incapable of assuming the presidency, despite her party’s win.

Myanmar’s military altered the nation’s constitution so that anyone with foreign family members cannot become its leader. Suu Kyi late husband was British, CNN said, and her children have British passports.

President Obama congratulated Suu Kyi on the results during a phone call Thursday, praising her quest for fair and representative government.

“The president commended her for her tireless efforts and sacrifice over so many years to promote a more inclusive, peaceful and democratic Burma,” the White House said in a statement, using the former name for the Asian country.

“The two leaders discussed the importance for all parties to respect the official results once announced and to work together in the spirit of unity to form an inclusive, representative government that reflects the will of the people.”