Sunday’s elections were the first freely held in the nation in 25 years. Suu Kyi herself was reelected to her seat in the Kawhmu constituency in Yangon.
Barred from the top spot
Despite her party’s win, the leader of Myanmar’s long-fought democracy movement can’t become President.
A woman casts her vote in a polling station in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on Sunday, November 8.
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A woman's finger is dipped in ink after casting her ballot in Dala, a village outside of Yangon, Myanmar, on November 8.
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People rally outside the National League for Democracy office after Myanmar's first free and fair election in 25 years on November 8 in Yangon.
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Votes are counted in a polling station in Yangon on November 8.
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A vendor reads a local weekly journal showing a portrait of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein and others.
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Pro-democracy supporters are optimistic that the election could be the beginning of real change in the country, which has been isolated for decades because of its repressive military-dominated government.
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Tin Aye, chairman of Myanmar's Union Election Commission, inspects a polling station in Naypyidaw on November 7.
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Thu Ryain Shwe, 26, of the National Unity Party, one of the youngest candidates in the parliamentary election, wears his candidate ID in Zigon.
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A devotee prays at a chanting ceremony in Mandalay, Myanmar, on November 7 to bless citizens and to pray for a fair and peaceful election.
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A supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party holds a party flag in Mandalay on November 5.
Military still holds many of the cards
It will take at least another week to tabulate all the results, a presidential spokesman said.
The landmark election is seen as a test of the powerful military’s willingness to let the country continue along a path toward full democracy, after decades of military-dominated rule in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Thein Sein has promised that the outcome of Sunday’s vote will be respected, but the system is already configured strongly in favor of the military, which gets to appoint a quarter of all lawmakers in the two houses of parliament.
The changes ushered in under Thein Sein since 2011 have helped reduce the country’s international isolation, with Western sanctions being eased and foreign investment starting to ramp up.
But human rights groups have warned of a rise in politically motivated arrests as well as discrimination directed against the Muslim minority, notably the stateless Rohingya population.
Questions have come up over how free and fair the current election will turn out to be. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, expressed concern last week about irregularities in advance voting, fraud and intimidation.
Many people still remember the last national election her party contested, in 1990, which it was widely considered to have won. But the military rulers annulled the results and placed Suu Kyi and many of her colleagues under arrest.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of an independence leader, spent much of the next two decades under house arrest, becoming an internationally recognized symbol of democracy and the country’s most popular politician.
What next?
After the outcome of the parliamentary vote is decided, lawmakers will begin the complex process of choosing a president.
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Aung San Suu Kyi poses for a portrait in Yangon, Myanmar, in 2010. A month earlier, she had been released from house arrest.
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Suu Kyi, front center, is seen with her parents and her two elder brothers in 1947. Her father, Aung San, was the commander of the Burma Independence Army and helped negotiate the country's independence from Britain. He was assassinated on July 19, 1947. Suu Kyi's mother, Ma Khin Kyi, was a diplomat who was once an ambassador to India.
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Suu Kyi poses with Burmese comedian Par Par Lay, who was part of the pro-democracy act "The Moustache Brothers." Suu Kyi grew up in Myanmar and India but moved to England in the 1960s, where she studied at Oxford University. She returned to Myanmar in 1988 and co-founded the National League for Democracy, a political party dedicated to nonviolence and civil disobedience.
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Suu Kyi sprinkles water over the heads of her followers during a traditional new year ceremony in Yangon in 1989. Five days of celebrations were marked by anti-government protests closely watched by armed troops.
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Suu Kyi poses for a photo in June 1989.
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Suu Kyi addresses a crowd of supporters in Yangon in July 1989. About two weeks later, she was placed under house arrest and charged with trying to divide the military. She denied the charges.
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While under house arrest, Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Price in 1991. She was honored "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights."
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Suu Kyi speaks to hundreds of supporters from the gate at her residential compound in Yangon in 1995. She had just been released from house arrest, but her political activity was restricted.
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Suu Kyi addresses supporters in 1997, on the 49th anniversary of Myanmar's independence movement.
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Suu Kyi, in a 1999 home video, gives her support to economic sanctions against her country as a means to affect the governing military.
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Suu Kyi poses in front of a portrait of her father in 1999. In 2000, she was once again placed under house arrest.
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An activist holds a Suu Kyi portrait during a protest at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2009. The protesters were calling on the Chinese government to impose sanctions on Myanmar's military government following a Suu Kyi trial.
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Suu Kyi speaks in Yangon in December 2010, a month after being released from house arrest. She had spent 15 of the previous 21 years under house arrest.
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Suu Kyi is held by her son Kim Aris as she is greeted by supporters during a visit to the ancient temple city of Bagan in 2011.
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Suu Kyi meets US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon in 2011.
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Suu Kyi greets crowds while campaigning in Pathein, Myanmar, in 2012. She was running for a seat in parliament.
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Suu Kyi makes her way through a crowd in 2012, a day after she won a seat in parliament. It was Myanmar's first multiparty elections since 1990.
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Suu Kyi accepts the Ambassador of Conscience Award next to U2 singer Bono during a European tour in 2012.
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Suu Kyi is presented with the Congressional Gold Medal while visiting the US Capitol in 2012.
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Suu Kyi meets with US President Barack Obama in the White House Oval Office. Obama later visited her lakeside villa in Myanmar. It was the first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US president.
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Suu Kyi joins officer cadets for tea while visiting a military academy in Camberley, England, in 2013.
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Suu Kyi speaks during a Nobel lecture in Oslo, Norway, in 2015. She was finally able to receive the Nobel Peace Prize that she won while she was under house arrest in 1991.
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Suu Kyi descends from a stage decorated with a portrait of her late father during a campaign rally in 2015.
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Suu Kyi campaigns in Kawhmu, Myanmar, in 2015.
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Suu Kyi arrives at a polling station to cast her vote in 2015. Her party won a historic majority in the nation's first freely held parliamentary elections. Suu Kyi was not able to become president, however, because of a constitutional amendment that prohibits anyone with foreign relatives from becoming the nation's leader. She was later named state counselor, a role created especially for her.
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Suu Kyi and members of parliament take their positions during the presidential vote in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, in 2016. Htin Kyaw, Suu Kyi's longtime aide, was voted as president.
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Suu Kyi walks with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the country's military leader, at the Naypyidaw city airport in 2016.
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Suu Kyi and President Kyaw talk at a conference in Naypyidaw in 2016.
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Suu Kyi addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2016.
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Supporters rush to greet Suu Kyi in Washington, DC, after she met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016.
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Suu Kyi is guided by National Park Service Ranger Heath Mitchell on her visit to Washington, DC, in 2016.
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Suu Kyi met with Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2017.
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II greets Suu Kyi ahead of a private lunch at Buckingham Palace in 2017.
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US Vice President Mike Pence meets with Suu Kyi on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Singapore in 2018.
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Suu Kyi stands before the UN's International Court of Justice in 2019. The nation of Gambia filed a lawsuit in the world court alleging that Myanmar committed "genocidal acts" against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims. Suu Kyi has repeatedly denied such charges, siding with the military and labeling the accusations as "misinformation."
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Suu Kyi casts her ballot during advance voting in 2020.
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Suu Kyi watches the vaccination of health workers at a hospital in Naypyidaw in January 2021. A few days later, the military detained her in a coup.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has described Sunday’s elections as “an important step forward” but also cautioned that what happens next is key to Myanmar’s future.
“A peaceful post-election period is crucial for stability and maintaining the confidence of the people in the credibility of the electoral process and the overall political transition,” he said in a statement.
CNN’s Elizabeth Joseph and Tim Hume contributed contributed to this report.
