YANGON, Myanmar – A sea of red flooded the streets around Aung San Suu Kyi's party headquarters in Yangon late Sunday, November 8, as supporters erupted in cheers while watching the trickle of results from Myanmar's landmark elections on a big screen.
The busy downtown street was taken over by thousands of National League for Democracy (NLD) supporters.
Although it was too early to call the result, loyalists wearing the party color of red or waving its peacock emblem flags, sang and danced to blaring NLD pop tracks composed for the vote.
In scenes that would have been unheard of before the country began to emerge from the choking repression of military rule in 2011, supporters chanted "Amay Suu must win, NLD must win!" Amay means mother in Burmese.
The polls are the freest elections Myanmar has held in a generation.
If the NLD wins an outright majority it can form a government, a huge stride towards ending the military's domination of the Southeast Asian nation.
"I love mother Suu unconditionally. I believe in her as well, that's why I have been here since this afternoon to show her support," said Tin Tin Oo, a housewife.
"I will stay here until all the results come out... Mother must win!" she said, defying a party plea for supporters to disperse.
The election is the party’s first chance at electoral success since it stormed a 1990 poll only to be denied power by the then-ruling generals.
"We have waited many years already. The NLD could win already and I believe that the NLD will win," said Khin Zaw, a construction worker in the crowd.
The initial count appeared to show the NLD were fairing well across the country.
The only dampener for the crowd was the lack of an appearance from their figurehead, Suu Kyi, who has led the pro-democracy movement for a quarter of a century.
Suu Kyi’s party needs to win some 67% of elected seats in the country’s combined houses of parliament to be able to select a president.
The role is not open to Suu Kyi because of a clause in the junta-drafted constitution, which many believe is aimed specifically at blocking the Nobel Laureate from taking the top job.
The crowd began to thin as the evening wore on with no result in sight.
But the mood remained positive.
Buddhist monk Raseinna said he had come to support the NLD and its star, Suu Kyi.
"I believe in her (Suu Kyi) completely. She is the one who sacrificed everything for us," he said.
Myanmar monks go by one name and cannot vote. – Rappler.com