Suu Kyi wins historic Myanmar election

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has won a landslide victory in Myanmar's first openly contested poll in 25 years according to international media.

Reports show that the party has already won more than the two-thirds it needs to control parliament and choose the president, but a quarter of seats were given uncontested to the military, meaning it remains hugely influential.

The BBC reports that some 30 million people were eligible to vote in the election, and turnout was estimated at about 80%.

The results effectively end decades of military-backed rule, but under the constitution Suu Kyi cannot become president herself, given that both her sons were born British. The constitution bars anyone whose children were born foreign nationals from holding the job.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has spent decades under military-imposed house arrest, and she insisted she would lead the country anyway if her party won.

According to international media, final results are not expected to come in for several days, while the process of choosing a new president will not begin until January, when parliament reconvenes.

The BBC adds that the election commission has slowly been releasing figures, and by early on Friday morning the NLD needed only two more votes to reach the threshold required to give it a majority in both houses of parliament, and it reports that vote officials said the NLD had taken 348 of the 664 seats in the two houses of parliament in a midday announcement.

Current President Thein Sein and the head of the military have already said they would respect the outcome of the election and work with the new government.