Suu Kyi supporters celebrate vote

Myanmar holds 1st free national election in 25 years

Supporters of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi burst into boisterous celebration on Sunday after the country held its first free nationwide election in 25 years, the biggest step yet in a journey to democracy from dictatorship.

Although the outcome of the poll will not be clear for at least 36 hours, a densely packed crowd blocked a busy road beside the headquarters of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in Yangon as they cheered and waved red flags.

The NLD is expected to win the largest share of votes cast by an electorate of about 30 million, who chose from thousands of candidates standing for Parliament and regional assemblies.

But a legacy of rule by military junta means Ms Suu Kyi, who led the campaign for democracy, cannot become President herself. And whatever the result, Myanmar is heading into a period of uncertainty over how she and other ascendant parties negotiate sharing power with the still-dominant military.

A pariah state until a few years ago, Myanmar has had little experience organising elections. Some 10,000 observers were enlisted to scrutinise the process. Early indications from the monitors were that voting was mostly trouble-free, with only isolated irregularities.

“From the dozens of people we have spoken to since 6am today, everybody feels they have been able to vote for whoever they wanted to in security and safety,” said Durudee Sirichanya, one of the international observers.

In the city of Mandalay, about 100 people were stopped from voting after officials discovered they were outsiders who had been mysteriously added to the register and then bussed to the polling station.

The main concern about the election’s fairness arose before the election. Activists estimated that up to four million people, mostly citizens working abroad, would not be able to vote.

Religious tension, fanned by Buddhist nationalists whose actions have intimidated Myanmar’s Muslim minority, also marred the election campaign. Among those excluded from voting were around a million Rohingya Muslims who are effectively stateless in their own land.

Still, there was excitement among voters about the first general election since a quasi-civilian government replaced military rule in 2011.Myanmar holds 1st free national election in 25 years