NLD's Aung San Suu Kyi wins parliamentary seat in Myanmar's general elections

YANGON - Aung San Suu Kyi, chairperson of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), has won a seat in the House of Representatives (Lower House) for the next parliament in Sunday's multiparty general elections, according to an announcement from the Union Election Commission (UEC) on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi, the current State Counsellor of Myanmar, competed in Yangon's Kawmhu constituency against rival candidates from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the Union Betterment Party, United Nationalities League for Democracy, Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party and one independent runner.

A total of 5,639 candidates including 1,106 candidates from the ruling NLD party and 1,089 from the USDP vied for the 1,117 parliamentary seats in Sunday's election.

As of Tuesday morning, 47 representatives have been elected to parliament at three levels and the NLD secured 44 parliamentary seats including 12 in the Lower House, eight in the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and 24 in the regional or state parliaments so far, according to the UEC's result announcement.

The USDP won three seats -- one in the Lower House and two in the regional or state parliaments so far.

Suu Kyi contested a seat in the Lower House in Kawmhu township in 2012 by-election and 2015 general elections.

The ruling NLD party won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in the last general elections on Nov 8, 2015, and has been running the government since 2016.