Voting smooth and orderly
Some 34.5 million people are eligible to vote."So far voting has been orderly and smooth," said a European Union observer at the polling station where Suu Kyi voted.
Voters across Myanmar formed long lines Sunday to take part in an election pitting the country's army-backed establishment against an opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's first fully contested polls in 25 years.
Suu Kyi cast her ballot in Yangon in front of crowds of supporters and hundreds of foreign journalists, with her National League for Democracy (NLD) party hoping to win enough seats to overturn decades of military or military-backed rule.
The last time the NLD contested elections, in 1990, it won a landslide victory that was later disqualified by the military. The party boycotted the last polls in 2010. Suu Kyi arrived at the polling station wearing red - her party's colour - to the cheers and cries of supporters, and flanked by bodyguards.
"I hope she fights corruption if her party wins the election," said Win Htein, a recently retired father of four, after watching Suu Kyi pass through.
Even though she is constitutionally barred from becoming president, the country's top post, Suu Kyi said earlier in the week that she would "run the government" if her party wins.
Polls opened at 6 am (2330 Saturday GMT), with voters queueing up since before dawn in some constituencies, forming lines hundreds ofmetres long.
"We will not have real observations until this evening when we can gather observations from around the country," Chief Observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said.
The army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has ruled the country for the last five years, and has campaigned on a message of continuity and stability. With many former army figures among its leadership, the USDP has argued that only it can tread the path to democracy under the watch of a distrusting military.
"We must lead the country at least five more years so that the transition process stays peaceful," said Hla Swe, a former army officer and a sitting member of parliament for the USDP. The NLD have campaigned on a message of change, promising to reform the constitution and hasten the transition to democracy.
A final result could take up to several weeks, the electoral authorities said. The new government will not start its term until March next year, when the current government's term expires.
