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Story highlights
- Historic vote was seen as a test of the powerful military's acceptance of democracy
- Her party's win comes on the fifth anniversary of her release from house arrest
(CNN)Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a historic majority in Myanmar's parliament, marking the nation's rejection of decades of military rule.
While the results haven't been officially certified, the win by the National League for Democracy means it will choose the country's next President.
The announcement, made by the election commission Friday, comes on the fifth anniversary of Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, where the 70-year-old had been for the better part of 20 years.
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.
Why Myanmar is such a dramatic story 03:47
A change in Myanmar's constitution, drafted by the military, prevents anyone with foreign family members from becoming the nation's leader.
Suu Kyi's late husband was British. Her children hold British passports.
Still, she's pushing forward.
She said last week she would be "above the President" if her party won the parliamentary election.
But complicating any efforts to change the rules in the future, the military also has an effective veto over any proposed constitutional changes.
Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
A woman casts her vote in a polling station in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on Sunday, November 8.
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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
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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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
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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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
Votes are counted in a polling station in Yangon on November 8.
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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
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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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
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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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
Tin Aye, chairman of Myanmar's Union Election Commission, inspects a polling station in Naypyidaw on November 7.
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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
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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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
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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Photos: Landmark elections in Myanmar
A supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party holds a party flag in Mandalay on November 5.
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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.
The ruling party of Thein Sein has promised the outcome of the vote will be respected, but the system is configured strongly in favor of the military, which gets to appoint a quarter of all lawmakers in the two houses of parliament.
Election concerns
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.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of an independence leader, expressed concern last week about irregularities in advance voting, fraud and intimidation.
She was widely considered to have won the last national election her party contested, in 1990, but the military rulers annulled the results and placed Suu Kyi and many of her colleagues under arrest.
She 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.
Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, arrives at the polling station to cast vote during Myanmar's freest election in decades on November 8, 2015. Known worldwide for her leadership and commitment to human rights in Myanmar, she was kept under house arrest for years by the Asian country's military rulers. Take a look back at her triumphs and struggles:
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi, center, receives the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal on September 19, 2015. She is flanked by (from left) House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, stand with her.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – A large cutout of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Suu Kyi is on display on Wednesday.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, September 18, in Clinton's office at the State Department in Washington. It was her first visit to the U.S. in 20 years.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi greets her supporters as she visits a recently flooded area in Pathein township, the capital city of the Irrawaddy division, on September 1, 2015. Heavy monsoon rains in Myanmar forced tens of thousands of people to seek shelter in emergency camps.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks during a regular session at the lower house of parliament in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on July 25, 2015. Suu Kyi called for laws to protect the rights of the nation's myriad ethnic minorities in her inaugural address to the fledgling parliament.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi sits in the lower house parliament session in Naypyidaw on July 10, 2015.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi prays in honor of her late father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, during a ceremony to mark the country's 65th anniversary of Martyrs' Day at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon, Myanmar, on July 19, 2015. The memorial is a tribute to Aung San and several other independence leaders who were killed on July 19, 1947.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi stands to address both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall, London, on June 21, 2015 as Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, right, and Speaker of the House of Lords Baroness D'Souza stand beside her. Suu Kyi made a historic address to both houses of the British Parliament, making her only the fifth foreign dignitary since World War II to be accorded the rare honor.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks during a Nobel lecture at Oslo City Hall on June 16, 2015 in Oslo, Norway. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1991 but had not been able to receive it until now because she was kept under house arrest for most of the past 24 years.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi visits the Mae La refugee camp on June 2, 2015 in the western province of Tak, Thailand. The camp, situated along the Myanmar-Thailand border, is home to around 45,000 Karen people, an ethnic minority in Myanmar.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi leaves the Suvarnabhumi International airport on her first international trip in 24 years outside Myanmar on May 29, 2015in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi waves to Burmese workers on a trip to a migrant community outside of Bangkok on May 30, 2015 in Samut Sakhon, Thailand. Suu Kyi pledged to help improve the rights of Burmese nationals living in Thailand.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks at the National League for Democracy party headquarters after after a landslide victory for a seat in the parliament on April 2, 2015 in Yangon. The NLD claimed 43 out of 44 parliamentary seats as the country continues its path of political and diplomatic reform.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi is surrounded by media as she visits polling stations in her constituency during the parliamentary elections on April 1, 2015 in Kaw Hmu, Myanmar.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi and Secreatary of State Hillary Clinton stand together during a news conference after their meeting at her residence in Yangon on December 2, 2011, where they laid out a framework for reforms.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks in Yangon during a meeting to mark Human RIghts Day on December 10, 2010.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi addresses thousands of her supporters at her National League for Democracy headquarters on November 14, 2010.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi greets crowds of well-wishers at the gate of her house after her release from house arrest, on November 13, 2010, in Yangon.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – U.S. President George W. Bush signs H.R. 4286, which gave the Congressional Gold Medal in absentia to Suu Kyi, in the Oval Office of the White House on May 6, 2008. From left : California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, first lady Laura Bush and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi listens to a question during a news conference after being freed from 19 months under house arrest May 6, 2002, making a triumphant return to her party's headquarters in Yangon. A year later, her motorcade was attacked by a pro-government mob, and she was placed under house arrest again.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi's son, Alexander Aris, left, accepts America's highest civilian honor from U.S. President Bill Clinton on his mother's behalf on December 6, 2000, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi addresses hundreds of anxious Burmese supporters from the main gate of her family compound in Yangon on July 14, 1995.
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Photos: Photos: Suu Kyi through the years
Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks in Yangon during an anti-military regime rally on August 26, 1988.
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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.