Myanmar voted on Sunday in the first free national election for 25 years. More than 6,000 candidates competed for 1,171 seats in the national parliament and local assemblies.
The party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was on course for a landslide victory, but it was unclear if that would be enough to deliver a majority in parliament that would allow her National League for Democracy to control the presidency.
The period before a new president takes power at the end of March is likely to be one of tension and uncertainty, as Suu Kyi negotiates how to share power with the still-dominant military.
Below are some details on the results and transition–
Results
The Union Electoral Commission (UEC) plans to announce preliminary nationwide results on November 10, and final results no later than two weeks after the vote.
The commission is making rolling announcements of results by constituency as they come in from around the country on November 9.
The first batch of results announced on Monday returned 12 out of 12 seats in the lower house to the NLD, all in Yangon.
Results from the urban centres, the support bases for the NLD, were expected to come more quickly than those from the rural support base of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
Voting system
Myanmar has a first-past-the-post voting system, likely to favour the NLD.
Military bloc and parliamentary calculations
The 2008 constitution, drafted by the junta that handed power to President Thein Sein in 2011, reserves a quarter of all seats in parliament for the military. That means that only 75% of the seats in parliament were contested in the polls. So to hold an outright majority of 51% in parliament, the NLD has to win more than two-thirds of the seats contested.
Seats in parliament
There are 440 seats in the lower house. 110 of them are reserved for the military. There are 224 seats in the upper House. 56 of them are reserved for the military. There are also 14 legislatures for the regions and states of Myanmar.
Presidency
Myanmar’s president is elected by parliament, not by popular vote. The upper house, the lower house, and the military bloc in parliament put forward one presidential candidate each. The combined houses votes on the three candidates. The presidential candidates do not have to be elected members of parliament. The winner becomes president and forms a government, the losers become vice presidents with largely ceremonial responsibilities. The vote on the presidency will take place after the new members take their seats in both houses in February. The president will assume power by the end of March.
Cabinet
The president forms a cabinet, but the military controls three of the most powerful ministries. They are the interior, defence and border security ministries.