Myanmar leader praises elections as 'successful'

Myanmar

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Myanmar's leader says elections won by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and her party were successful. It is the first top-level endorsement of the polls by a Myanmar government official.

When asked today by The Associated Press whether he thought the weekend by-elections were free and fair, President Thein Sein replied through an interpreter: "It was successful."

Thein Sein spoke on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He rarely talks to the press.

He and other Myanmar officials were evidently elated that colleagues in the 10-nation association praised them for recent democratic reforms.

Western governments and even ASEAN members had lambasted Myanmar in the past for its human rights record.