Myanmar's Elections: What Happened and What Happens Now?
VIEW EVENT DETAILSIt’s been a month since Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in Myanmar’s general elections. The new parliament will begin deliberations in late January 2016, and a new president will be elected in March. But there is no certainty that the transfer of power will be smooth or peaceful—or whether it will happen at all. The country has entered uncharted waters, and much will depend on how events unfold over the next four months.
William Sweeney, U Aung Din, and Christina Fink will provide a post-mortem on Myanmar’s electoral process and results, examine the remaining challenges the country faces during the transition period, and explore the longer term implications of this historic election. Vikram Nehru of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace will moderate.
This event is part of the “Myanmar Votes 2015” project of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, co-sponsored together with the Asia Society Policy Institute and the Southeast Asia Studies Department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Speakers
William Sweeney is President and CEO of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the independent agency that provided technical assistance to Myanmar’s Union Election Commission on the administration of the recent elections.
U Aung Din is Senior Adviser for Open Myanmar Initiative based in Yangon. A former political prisoner in Myanmar between 1989 and 1993, he was a founder of the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
Christina Fink is a cultural anthropologist who is a professor of practice in international affairs at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
Vikram Nehru is a senior associate in Carnegie’s Asia Program where he focuses his research on the economic, political, and strategic issues confronting Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.