Democratisation, Interrupted

A year and a half after Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory, criticism is everywhere. Abuses against the Rohingya and battles with armed ethnic groups are eclipsing one of the world's most interesting political turns.

- Zigor Aldama

In November 2015, Moe Thway couldn’t conceal his excitement. He was about to vote in a democratic election for the first time in his life. As a founding member of Generation Wave, a youth pro-democracy movement born during the so-called Saffron Revolution of 2007, he considered this first free general elections since 1990 – when the military refused to accept its defeat and remained in power – a personal victory. He would not think of voting for any other party than the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent almost 15 years under house arrest.

“It doesn’t matter that the constitution, written by the military junta in 2008, bans ‘the Lady’ – as many call Suu Kyi – from contesting for presidency, because her kids have a foreign passport. We know that she will exert power through her candidate, Htin Kyaw,” Thway explained.

The young activist was right: The NLD won a landslide victory and secured the presidency with 360 out of the 652 votes in parliament, where the army still holds 25 percent of the seats. “That gives the military veto power on any constitutional amendment, and it also keeps three key ministers. It’s going to be tough to reform the current system, but we believe change will come fast,” Thway said before the elections.