Aung San Suu Kyi's party retains heartland support in Myanmar polls

Yangon: Official results from Myanmar's election committee show that Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy party has retained voters' loyalty in its Yangon strongholds, but has weakened in ethnic minority areas that helped boost her party's 2015 landslide general election victory.

The results released for Saturday's by-elections show the NLD taking eight of 12 seats for the combined upper houses of the national parliament. It won only one of seven seats at stake in state assembles, where ethnic-focused parties performed strongly.

The NLD won its 2015 election majority with the support of ethnic minorities anxious to end five decades of military rule, but Suu Kyi's failure so far to meet their political demands for greater autonomy has fractured their united front.