The final official results of Myanmar’s general election will be released before Sunday, the Union Election Commission (UEC) has said.
Speaking at a press conference in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, commission member Myint Naing said that while it took ten days after polling day to finalise results in 2015, this year it would take a maximum of seven.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) has already declared itself the winner based on its own tally of the results, as it did in 2015, raising questions about the UEC’s role.
The commission’s inability to more quickly announce a winner has given the military-backed opposition party an opening to challenge the election results.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) on Wednesday demanded the election be held again under military supervision and said it would not recognise the result of the November 8 poll, which it labelled “unfair”.
Myint Naing hit back at the party’s comments, calling them baseless. “They are talking in a deluded way,” he told reporters.
The party was free to make a legal complaint if it had any evidence of impropriety or cheating, he added.
The commission has so far declared results in more than 30% of constituencies across the country and the NLD won most of them, he said.
Other major parties have already issued statements expressing support for the result, Myint Naing added.
The commission initially estimated that 70% of Myanmar’s 37m eligible voters turned out to vote despite the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, but it will release final turnout figures along with the finalised results.
The NLD has said it won at least 397 seats, even more than it secured in its landslide 2015 victory, while the USDP has secured 23 seats.
