Burma/Myanmar Update: Low Turnout, Criticism for Election

Reports from Burma indicate that many voters heeded opposition calls to boycott Sunday's election, with two military-back parties certain to win most of the Parliamentary contests.

The vote took place amid tight security, with barbed wire and officers in body armour carrying assault rifles at major polling locations, and a ban on foreign reporters and election monitors. The Guardian of London, despite the ban, was able to tour 20 stations in Rangoon. The newspaper claimed that many were empty throughout the day. An official from the Asian Network for Free Elections said the overall voter turnout was less than 50%, with less than 30% in several regions.

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Burma/Myanmar: Elections Begin Amidst Tight Security and Much Skepticism (Al Jazeera)

Polls have opened under tight security in Myanmar's first election in 20 years, but few expect it to bring any real change in power, with the military and its proxies likely to dominate parliament and senior positions.

In the commercial hub of Yangon on Sunday, armed riot police stood guard at near-empty polling booths or patrolled streets in convoys of military trucks, part of a clampdown that includes bans on foreign media and on outside election monitors.

The carefully choreographed end of direct army rule, marred by complex rules that stifled major pro-democracy forces, enters its final stage in a race largely between two powerful military-backed parties running virtually unopposed.

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