US says election big step for democracy in Myanmar, urges military to honour result

WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. official said Monday that Myanmar has taken a “hell of a step forward” toward democracy with its most competitive election in decades but a credible government transition and progress on political reform will also be key as Washington weighs whether to ease sanctions.

Daniel Russel, top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, said the U.S. and other members of the international community would hold military chiefs to their commitment to honour the results of Sunday’s vote, which he described as the first time in 50 years that people in the country also known as Burma had been given their political voice.

“Now our expectation is that the military and political leaders of Burma are going to have to listen,” he told reporters, calling for a peaceful transition to a new government.

Few results have been officially declared in the election, but the main opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi was already predicting Monday it had won by a landslide.

The U.S. has welcomed the election as a critical chapter in Myanmar’s shift from direct military rule, which began four years ago, while stressing that impediments remain toward full democracy, including the reservation of a quarter of parliamentary seats for the military and the disenfranchisement of minority Rohingya Muslims.

“One election after 50-plus years of military dictatorship is not going to restore perfect democracy but clearly this was a hell of a step forward for the democratic process in Burma. I think that the key thing now is to get through the next several weeks which will be a complicated and delicate and important time,” Russel said.

The Obama administration rolled back most U.S. economic sanctions in 2012 after a quasi-civilian government replaced a repressive junta but it still restricts business dealings with the military and dozens of cronies of the former regime. That’s been a drag on U.S. companies investing in the Southeast Asian nation.

Russel said the conduct of the polling meeting international standards was only one consideration for the United States on whether to ease the remaining sanctions.

“For the United States and the international community to provide the kind of support to Burma that its people need and its leaders want, the political process there governing the transition from the current administration to a future administration is going to have to be credible,” Russel said.

He added that the more progress there is on political reforms, the “lower the hurdles” for the U.S. government to adjust its policies.

U.S. lawmakers have raised particular alarm over human rights abuses against Rohingya who face violence and intimidation at the hands of Buddhist extremists. Some lawmakers have called for targeted sanctions against those responsible. There is also congressional opposition to U.S.-Myanmar military co-operation.