Ekip
26 December 2015•Update: 27 December 2015
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar
Myanmar’s election victor Aung San Suu Kyi met with trishaw drivers Saturday at an event in honor of their support during campaigning for the election her opposition party won last month.
Around 220 trishaw – or cycle rickshaw – drivers in Yangon attended the gathering at the Royal Rose restaurant, the first-ever such event in the country’s history.
“Firstly, I want to thank you all for what you did for the election, not only for your support of our party. You encourage voters to choose the party they like bravely,” the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader said.
“Secondly, I want to listen to the true life [stories] of you trishaw drivers. So, please tell me frankly your experiences when we have lunch together,” she added.
Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi’s party won 880 parliamentary seats – or 77.3 percent -- out of a total of 1,139 contested seats at three levels of parliament at the Nov. 8 polls, the first free and fair election in decades.
The sweeping victory left the party in a position to choose the country's next president in the new administration, set to take power in March next year.
While Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by a constitutional clause saying that no one with foreign relatives can take the job – believed to have been written with her two sons in mind – she has vowed to be "above" the president after her party secured a parliamentary majority.
During the campaigns, trishaw drivers across the country – especially in big cities such as commercial capital Yangon and Pathein of the Ayeyawaddy region – had joined in NLD campaigns, garnering more public attention.
They had adorned their man-powered vehicles with NLD flags and even participated by the hundred in rallies.
Trishaws – known in Myanmar as “side-cars” – can be found across the country, especially outside of Yangon as very few buses run the streets of other major cities and towns, requiring people to rely on trishaws and motorcycles for public transport.
