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YANGON. – Voting unfolded smoothly in Myanmar yesterday with no reports of violence to puncture a mood of jubilation marking the Southeast Asian nation’s first free nationwide election in 25 years, its biggest stride yet in a journey to democracy from dictatorship.

The party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to win the largest share of votes cast by an electorate of about 30 million, who chose from among thousands of candidates standing for parliament and regional assemblies.

But a legacy of military rule means she cannot become president after the election, even if her National League for Democracy (NLD) wins a land- slide.

As counting began across the country, early indications from observers were that voting was mostly trouble-free and there were only isolated reports of 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, an international observer from the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Concern arose about the fairness of the election after activists estimated that up to 4 million people, mostly citizens working abroad, may be unable to cast a ballot. – Reuters.