YANGON — The congratulations for holding a fairly free, fair and peaceful election on November 8 have been piling up this week at the President’s office, media reports said Friday.
Singaporean leaders Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong were among the latest to send their congratulatory messages, both to President U Thein Sein and to opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party triumphed at the polls.
In his message to the president, Goh Chok Tong said the smooth elections “showed how far Myanmar has come since it began its economic and democratic transition under your leadership.”
Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi and United Nations General Secretary Mr Ban Ki-moon phoned the president on Thursday to praise Myanmar’s successful general election, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
To Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Singaporean Prime Minister wrote, “The NLD’s victory reflects the support and hope that the Myanmar people have in you and your party.”
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In 2011 U Thein Sein paved the way for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s entry into mainstream politics by allowing her and the NLD to contest the 2012 by-election, in which they won 43 of the 44 seats they contested.
The NLD has won more than 75 percent of the contested seats in the November 8 polls, although the final tally is still pending.
U Thein Sein’s Union Solidarity and Development Party has come in a distant second, with about 10 percent of the vote.
