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NLD secures enough seats for two presidential candidates

Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) passed a threshold in vote counting today that gave it enough seats to nominate a second presidential candidate, as the party headed for a crushing victory in the weekend’s historic elections.

With 95 seats in the upper house, out of 116 results confirmed by election officials, the NLD is now in a position to select that house’s nomination for president.

The party yesterday secured enough seats in the lower house to ensure its choice for that assembly’s nominee. As of this morning it had 196 out of 243 confirmed seats in the lower house, the Union Election Commission said.

The NLD is still 38 seats short of the 329 it needs to ensure its preferred nominee becomes president in a parliamentary vote.

US President Barack Obama called incumbent President Thein Sein to congratulate him for holding a successful and peaceful election last weekend, Information Minister Ye Htut said.

Thein Sein yesterday accepted the request for a meeting with NLD leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, to also include military chief Min Aung Hlaing and parliament speaker Shwe Mann, although a date for the meeting was not fixed.

The country’s first openly contested elections in 25 years, held on Nov 8, was headed for a landslide victory for Suu Kyi’s party, although the military will retain an automatic 25 percent of the seats in each house, as stipulated in the constitution.

- dpa

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