Nobel Laureate elected in Myanmar, her party says

The party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi declared that she had won a seat in Myanmar’s Parliament on Sunday, an unofficial result that may herald a new era for the country as it moves toward democracy after decades of oppressive military rule.If the result is confirmed, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, a global icon of democracy and a 1991 Nobel Peace laureate, will make the transition from dissident to lawmaker, joining a Parliament overwhelmingly controlled by the military-backed ruling party.Outside her party headquarters in Yangon, hundreds of frenzied supporters cheered as tallies from polling stations, displayed on a large screen, lopsidedly favored Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi.“I feel like I want to dance,” said Khin Maung Myint, a 65-year-old painter in the crowd. “I’m so happy that they beat the military. We need a party that stands for the people.”But U Min Zaw, a goldsmith who also supports Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, said he realized that his vote on Sunday would go only so far — the dominance of the ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, would remain intact.“This is just a little step, just a little democracy,” Mr. Min Zaw said. The National League for Democracy will have at best a small minority in Parliament, he said. But “the future is brighter than ever.”The elections have been described by foreign governments as a barometer of democratic development in a country that only 18 months ago was ruled by a military junta, one of Asia’s most brutal dictatorships. Hundreds of foreign journalists and numerous teams of foreign observers were allowed into Myanmar, also called Burma, to witness the voting, a contrast to previous years when a hermetic military government tried to keep out prying eyes.The European Union and the United States have said that the fairness of the outcome will be crucial in determining whether they lift economic sanctions against the country.Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials from her party complained of a litany of “irregularities” during the campaign, but the alleged infractions — defacing of posters and campaigning by government officials on behalf of the ruling party in contravention of Myanmar’s Constitution — appeared minor compared with the harsh treatment of the opposition in years past.