Myanmar Election: Fair, Not Free, Suu Kyi Says As Her Party Racks Up Seats

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi told the BBC that Monday's elections were "not free but fair," as her party, the National League for Democracy, racked up parliamentary seats, bringing them close to ending 50 years of military rule.

Of 88 lower house seats declared so far, the NLD won 78 while the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party won 5, according to The Guardian. As many as 330 lower house seats are up for election.

This is the second time that Suu Kyi has come this close to running the government. Her party won in 1990 but the military refused to turn over power. Instead, they put her under house arrest, where she spent most of the next two decades. This time, the speaker of the lower house of parliament and the co-chairman of the USDP have both conceded they lost their seats and said that their party was losing badly across the country and the vote must be respected.

"We are just beginning to teach the world about Burmese democracy," Suu Kyi told BBC in an interview Tuesday. She said she thinks her party won 70 percent of the vote. Burma is the former name of the country.

Suu Kyi's party needs to win two-thirds of the 330 lower house seats up for election in order to get a majority, because under the law, the military fills another 110 seats, or 25 percent. It will also have to choose a president for the parliament to elect because Suu Kyi is not eligible, under a law that bars people who are married to or are closely related to foreigners. Suu Kyi's late husband was British, as are her two sons.

Last week she said that she would rule as party leader "above" the president.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, head of the European Union election observer team, said the polls were "credible" and "transparent."

There is a simultaneous election for the smaller upper house of parliament.