The party of dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the
National League for Democracy, won a decisive victory in by-elections on April
1, 2012. The party 40 of the 45 seats reported as of April 3rd, with
the results of five more seats not yet in. The news of the victory reached the
outside world, which reacted with optimism. Catherine Ashton, the E.U.’s
foreign minister, said “I congratulate the government and people of Myanmar on
the conduct of the by-elections.”[1] Meanwhile, the White House indicated that the
vote marked “an important step in Burma’s democratic transformation.”[2] Both the
E.U. and U.S. approached the outcome as necessary but not sufficient for
democracy in the country that had had five decades of harsh military rule.
The full essay is at "A Myanmar Spring."
1. Patrick Barta, “Suu Kyi’s Victory Leads to Rethink About Sanctions,” The Wall Street Journal,
April 3, 2012.
2. Ibid.