Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested meetings with the military-backed leadership next week to discuss national reconciliation

Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested meetings with the military-backed leadership next week to discuss national reconciliation

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has taken a decisive lead in results from Sunday’s election.With about 40% of seats declared, the NLD has taken nearly 90% of the vote

A presidential spokesman congratulated the NLD on its success, but said a meeting could only take place after the final results were announced

In comments to the BBC, presidential spokesman U Ye Htut said President Thein Sein wanted to congratulate the NLD, and denied there was any attempt to delay the declaration of

The ruling military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) - which won the last, widely criticised election five years ago - is on some 5%, but a quarter of seats are reserved for the military

The result is a humiliation for the governing party, says the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Yangon, also known as Rangoon.It is likely to leave the NLD in a commanding position in the next parliament, opposed only by the military faction, he says

However, Ms Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from becoming president

Ms Suu Kyi has not declared victory yet, and is treading carefully, say correspondents.She sent letters to President Thein Sein, the commander of the armed forces and the parliamentary speaker

"A peaceful implementation of the people’s desire, which they expressed via the 8 November election, is very important for the country’s dignity and people’s peace of mind," she wrote in letters made public by the NLD, according to the Irrawaddy news website.Ms Suu Kyi earlier retained her own seat and will return as MP for her Kawhmu constituency in Rangoon - though she leads the NLD she is barred by the constitution from being president.But she has said "that won’t stop me from making all the decisions"

? Spent 15 years under house arrest between 1989 and 2010, despite the NLD winning a landslide in elections in 1991 which were later nullified

· Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for "her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights"

? Sidelined in 2010 elections but released from house arrest six days later

? Won a parliamentary seat in 2012 by-election, as country adopted liberalising reforms

The election commission is slowly releasing results. It is unclear when the final tally will be declared

The USDP, which has been in power in Myanmar since 2011, has so far taken 10 of the 491 seats being contested in both houses of parliament, compared to 163 by the NLD

A quarter of the 664 parliamentary seats are set aside for the army. For the NLD to have the winning majority and be able to select the president, it will need at least two-thirds of the remaining seats - or 329

About 30 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday’s election in Myanmar. Turnout was estimated at about 80%

Hundreds of thousands of people - including the Muslim Rohingya minority, who are not recognised as citizens - were denied voting rights

Nonetheless, Sunday’s election was seen as the most democratic in Myanmar - also known as Burma - for 25 years

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, her first since the vote, Ms Suu Kyi said the polls were "largely free" though not entirely fair, and that there had been some irregularities