Just before 4 p.m. today, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) published an open letter on social media suggesting confidence in a victory in Shan State, a move which was confirmed by a party spokesperson.
“This time, with your support, we won again,” the Shan-language letter read.
Sai Lek, spokesperson for the SNLD, told SHAN that after receiving preliminary results from the township election commissions, he is very confident that the party has won all of the seats in at least 20 townships in Shan State.
In additional townships, they expect partial victories.
“We released the open letter because what we win is not for our party, but for a better future for the people, for the country to be peaceful.”
The statement, titled “Thank You to the Public,” referenced the SNLD’s first electoral competition in 1990, in which the party won the majority of seats in Shan State and came second nationally to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
Sai Lek reaffirmed the party’s platform of promising to amend the 2008 Constitution.
“We will amend it for the people,” he said.
SNLD competed for 46 Lower House seats, 14 Upper House seats, and 96 regional seats in Burma’s national parliamentary election yesterday. Votes are still being counted, with final tallies expected to be confirmed throughout the week.
The first 15 victories announced by the Union Election Commission (UEC) were located in Yangon Division, and were won by the NLD. The government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed one seat.
By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency News (S.H.A.N)
