 "Myanmar elections: Suu Kyi supporters confident of win")
Supporters of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi burst into celebration on Sunday after the country held its first free election in 25 years.
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 Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) 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.
However, Myanmar is heading into a period of uncertainty over how she and other ascendant parties negotiate sharing power with the 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 6 a.m. on Sunday, everybody feels they have been able to vote for whoever they wanted to in security and safety," said Durudee Sirichanya, one of the 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, which was widely seen as a referendum on the country's unsteady reform process.
"I've done my bit for change, for the emergence of democracy," said Daw Myint, a 55-year-old former teacher, after she cast her vote for the NLD in Yangon.
Suu Kyi's car inched through a scrum of news photographers outside the polling station in Yangon where the 70-year-old Nobel peace laureate came to vote.
Still, there was excitement among voters about the first general election since a quasi-civilian government replaced military rule in 2011, which is widely regarded as a referendum on the country's unsteady reform process.
"I've done my bit for change, for the emergence of democracy," said 55-year-old former teacher Daw Myint after casting her vote for the NLD in Yangon.
Suu Kyi's car inched through a scrum of news photographers outside the Yangon polling station where the 70-year-old Nobel peace laureate came to vote. She was stony-faced as bodyguards shouted at people to move aside.
Most of the well-wishers gathered there were lucky to get more than a glimpse of the garland in her hair. A cry of "Victory! Victory!" went up from the crowd as she went inside.
Many voters voiced doubts the military would accept the outcome of the vote if Suu Kyi's party is victorious.
But in the capital, Naypyitaw, military Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing said on Sunday there would be no re-run of the last free vote in 1990, when Suu Kyi won but the army ignored the result. She spent most of the next 20 years under house arrest before her release in 2010.
Asked how he would feel if the NLD won this time, Min Aung Hlaing told reporters: "If the people choose them, there is no reason we would not accept it."
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 Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) 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.
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However, a legacy of rule by military junta means Suu Kyi, who led the campaign for democracy, cannot become president herself.
However, Myanmar is heading into a period of uncertainty over how she and other ascendant parties negotiate sharing power with the 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 6 a.m. on Sunday, everybody feels they have been able to vote for whoever they wanted to in security and safety," said Durudee Sirichanya, one of the 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, which was widely seen as a referendum on the country's unsteady reform process.
"I've done my bit for change, for the emergence of democracy," said Daw Myint, a 55-year-old former teacher, after she cast her vote for the NLD in Yangon.
Suu Kyi's car inched through a scrum of news photographers outside the polling station in Yangon where the 70-year-old Nobel peace laureate came to vote.
Still, there was excitement among voters about the first general election since a quasi-civilian government replaced military rule in 2011, which is widely regarded as a referendum on the country's unsteady reform process.
"I've done my bit for change, for the emergence of democracy," said 55-year-old former teacher Daw Myint after casting her vote for the NLD in Yangon.
Suu Kyi's car inched through a scrum of news photographers outside the Yangon polling station where the 70-year-old Nobel peace laureate came to vote. She was stony-faced as bodyguards shouted at people to move aside.
Most of the well-wishers gathered there were lucky to get more than a glimpse of the garland in her hair. A cry of "Victory! Victory!" went up from the crowd as she went inside.
Many voters voiced doubts the military would accept the outcome of the vote if Suu Kyi's party is victorious.
But in the capital, Naypyitaw, military Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing said on Sunday there would be no re-run of the last free vote in 1990, when Suu Kyi won but the army ignored the result. She spent most of the next 20 years under house arrest before her release in 2010.
Asked how he would feel if the NLD won this time, Min Aung Hlaing told reporters: "If the people choose them, there is no reason we would not accept it."