Suu Kyi
© Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/Christophe ArchambaultOpposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is surrounded by supporters and journalists as she visits a polling station in Kawhmu, Myanmar on April 1, 2012.
Myanmar dissident Aung San Suu Kyi will become a lawmaker for the first time after a victory in by- elections yesterday that may prompt the U.S. and European Union to lift sanctions and end the country's global isolation.

"The Lady has won," Nyan Win, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party, said by phone from Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, amid loud cheers from her supporters. "This is a big victory for us."

Suu Kyi's party won at least 35 of 45 seats in the first vote it contested since the army discarded a 1990 victory, Nyan Win said. Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle, won at all but one polling station in her district, he said.

The vote may open the door for the end of sanctions that prevent companies from General Electric Co. (GE) to Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) from investing in the country of 64 million people bordering China and India. President Thein Sein has moved to modernize Myanmar's political and economic system since taking power a year ago, including a managed float of its currency set to take effect yesterday.

"While it may be an imperfect election, the direction is very clear that the government is opening up," said Jim Della- Giacoma, Southeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, a policy research organization. "It's incumbent on the international community and particularly the countries that have been imposing sanctions to think about how to keep up the momentum and encourage change. Now is not the time to keep the big stick waving in the air."

'Too Early'

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited the country formerly known as Burma in December, congratulated those who took part in the by-elections while cautioning that reforms could yet unravel. American sanctions ban investment in Myanmar and imports from the country, restrict money transfers, freeze assets and target jewelry with gemstones originating in the nation. The EU bans weapons sales and mineral imports.

"It's too early to know what recent progress means and whether it will be sustained," Clinton told reporters in Istanbul yesterday. "There are no guarantees about what lies ahead for the people of Burma, but after a day responding to a brutal dictator in Syria who would rather destroy his own country than let it move toward freedom it is heartening to be reminded that even the most repressive regimes can reform and even the most closed societies can open."

Yangon Celebration

Hundreds of supporters danced, sang and cheered outside the National League for Democracy's Yangon headquarters last night as party officials displayed results on an electronic billboard. No military or police were in sight.

"In four or five years, she will be president," Ashin Arseinna, a monk who joined the celebrations, said of Suu Kyi. "All Yangon city feels happy."

The National League for Democracy won 39 seats yesterday, including two for regional parliaments, the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma said in a statement, citing figures from the party and local media. Results were not yet available for the remaining six seats, it said, adding that Thein Sein's ruling party and the military will still control more than 80 percent of seats in the 664-member Parliament after the vote.

Myanmar invited a limited number of election monitors and journalists from the U.S., EU and neighboring countries. The by- elections "are a key moment in national reconciliation and should allow a substantial review of EU policy vis-a-vis Myanmar," Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, said in a March 28 statement.

Currency Float

Myanmar's political opening is moving in parallel with efforts to rewrite investment laws and unify multiple exchange rates that impede trade. The country moved to a managed float of its currency yesterday, scrapping a 35-year fixed rate to help grow the economy, according to the central bank.

Rich in natural gas, gold and gems, Myanmar represents one of Asia's last untapped frontier markets, attracting investors such as Jim Rogers, the chairman of Rogers Holdings, who predicted a global commodities rally in 1999. Myanmar's opening is "a game-changer," Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch said in a March 29 research note.

Honda Motor Co. (7267) is interested in building a motorcycle plant in Myanmar, Hiroshi Kobayashi, president and chief executive officer of Asian Honda Motor Co., told reporters in Thailand on March 31. The decision will depend on circumstances in the country and international consensus, he said.

'The Lady'

Suu Kyi, 66, remains a focal point of global perceptions about Myanmar. She has met a stream of visitors to her lakeside home in recent months, including Clinton and U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Known in Myanmar simply as "The Lady," Suu Kyi gave her first political speech in 1988 when she returned to the country to care for her ailing mother after years of living overseas. She was first detained prior to 1990 elections in which her party won about 80 percent of seats for a committee to draft a new constitution. The military rejected the results.

Suu Kyi refused to accept an army-drafted constitution in 2008 and boycotted an election two years later in which Thein Sein's party won a majority. A meeting between Suu Kyi and the president in August led to her party rejoining the political system.

In a 90-minute briefing on March 30, Suu Kyi said her party will accept the results if the will of the people is "fairly reflected." She called irregularities during the campaign including vote-buying, incorrect voter lists and an incident where a candidate was almost hit with a betel nut "beyond what is acceptable for democratic selection."

Fairness Questioned

"I don't think we can consider it a genuinely free and fair election if we take into consideration what has been going on in the last couple of months," Suu Kyi told more than 300 journalists gathered at her home in Yangon. "But still I will be willing to work toward national reconciliation, so we will try to tolerate what has happened.'

Suu Kyi has appeared on state-run television and traveled throughout the country during the campaign period, falling ill on two occasions from exhaustion. Tens of thousands of people have greeted her at campaign stops around the country.

''We're happy with what we've seen," Chheang Vun, who is observing the election for Cambodia, said in Kawhmu district March 31. "Myanmar is now very different. In the three days we've been here, we have not seen military or police."

'Cannot Stop Now'

Elections in three constituencies in Kachin state, home to a violent ethnic rebellion, were suspended due to security concerns. Myanmar's army has displaced 75,000 ethnic Kachins since last June in an area along the Chinese border, New York- based Human Rights Watch said in a March 20 report, underscoring the challenges that remain for Thein Sein as he aims to make peace with political rivals.

Thein Sein called on all political parties to accept the results in a March 24 speech published in the state-run New Light of Myanmar.

"Things have to change," Thilsa Hla Htway, a journalist for 23 years, said last night in Yangon as Suu Kyi's party celebrated. "It cannot stop now."