Myanmar’s first freely elected Parliament after half a century of military rule opened yesterday (Feb 1), a symbolic but critical milestone in the country’s fragile transition to democracy, and a moment long awaited by Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the nation’s democracy movement.

Ms Suu Kyi entered the parliamentary chambers in Naypyidaw, the capital, through a side door. The chamber was swathed in orange — the color of her National League for Democracy Party, which overwhelmingly won a landmark election Nov 8. The military, as part of a complex political transition that has unfolded since 2010, retains 25 per cent of the seats in both houses; its members wore green uniforms.

At least 110 of the party’s 390 members in the new parliament are, like Suu Kyi, former political prisoners. They were formally installed yesterday after an unusually jubilant celebration Friday, with karaoke singing and dancing, to mark the end of the military-led Parliament.

“The honeymoon period will be brief,” Mr Aung Zaw, an influential journalist who returned to Myanmar in 2012 after 24 years in exile, wrote yesterday on the website of his publication, The Irrawaddy. “All the hard work lies ahead.”

Still, he called the opening of parliament “a momentous day for Burma,” which was the country’s official name until 1989 and is still used by many in Myanmar.

The lower house of the new parliament elected Win Myint, a lawyer from Ms Suu Kyi’s political party and a former political prisoner, as its new speaker. But in a sign of conciliation, lawmakers picked as deputy speaker Ti Khun Myat, a member of the Kachin ethnic minority and a representative of the military-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Party, which is now the party in opposition.

President Thein Sein, a former general who leads that party, gave a speech Friday promoting the country’s “democratic transformation.” As the prime minister from 2007 to 2011, Thein Sein helped to establish a military-led civilian government and to pave the way for the end of the military junta’s monopoly on power, which it had held since a 1962 coup. The transition included Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest in 2010, a parliamentary by-election in 2012 that put her in parliament, improved relations with the United States and the European Union, and the easing of some economic sanctions.

Thein Sein is to step down in March, and the new parliament will choose his successor. But under the new constitution, which was drawn up by the previous military-led government and accepted by Suu Kyi, the democracy leader is not eligible for the position because of the foreign citizenship of her husband — British historian Michael Aris, who died in 1999 — and her two sons, who hold British citizenship.

Ms Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest under the former military government, said last year that a victory by her party would put her “above the president,” suggesting that the next president would be, if not largely ceremonial, a loyalist essentially governing on her behalf.

The National League for Democracy has been consumed with speculation about possible candidates for president. Among the names being mentioned are Suu Kyi’s longtime personal physician, Tin Myo Win, who was one of the few people allowed to visit her during her years in detention; a lawmaker, Su Su Lwin, and her husband, Htin Kyaw, both democratic activists; and Tin Oo, a former military commander in his late 80s who threw his support behind the 1988 democratic uprising that led to the party’s landslide election victory in 1990. (The junta refused to recognise the results.)

The military, which still controls three key ministries under the new constitution, remains a key force in the country.

In an email, Aung Zaw, the journalist, predicted that the National League for Democracy, despite its overwhelming victory last fall, would move carefully in forming a new government, which will take office in April.

“This is a new political beginning in Burma,” he wrote. “There is definitely renewed hope among people.”

Myanmar, a nation of 53 million people, faces enormous challenges, including widespread poverty, an underdeveloped economy and environmental degradation. There are still political prisoners behind bars, and Ms Suu Kyi has faced criticism for not responding more aggressively to deadly violence by members of the country’s Buddhist majority against the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group.

The ambassadors from Britain and the European Union were among the dignitaries who attended the opening of parliament yesterday. On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the nomination of Scot Marciel, a career diplomat, to be the new US ambassador to Myanmar. This came after the Obama administration had assured lawmakers that it would not move hastily to lift sanctions until the human rights situation showed demonstrable improvement. THE NEW YORK TIMES