Apathy, fraud charges mar Myanmar election

State TV did not mention the election until a news bulletin four hours after polls had closed that showed army ruler Than Shwe casting his vote. Results may not be known for a day or more. Witnesses reported low turnout and irregularities.

Two military-backed parties running virtually unopposed were certain to prevail in a carefully choreographed end to half a century of direct army rule. Complex election rules stifled any prospect of a pro-democracy upset.

Many who abstained expressed doubt they could alter the authoritarian status quo in a vote both U.S. President Barack Obama and British Foreign Secretary William Hague described in separate statements as flawed and neither free nor fair.

Some Yangon residents packed pagodas instead of voting. In Haka, capital of Chin state bordering India and Bangladesh, more people attended church than cast ballots, witnesses said.

The vote will not bring an end to Western sanctions but may reduce Myanmar's isolation at a time when neighboring China has dramatically increased investment in natural gas and other resources in the former British colony also known as Burma.

Armed riot police stood guard at polling booths or patrolled streets in military trucks in Yangon, part of a clampdown that includes a ban on foreign media and outside election monitors and a tightening in state censorship.

The Internet suffered repeated failures widely believed to have been orchestrated by the junta to control information.

It is the first election since 1990, when Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy beat the army-backed party in a landslide. The junta simply ignored that result.

Suu Kyi, detained for 15 of the past 21 years, urged a boycott of this poll, saying she “would not dream” of taking part. She could take the spotlight this week, however, ahead of the expiry of her house arrest on Saturday, November 13.

Her release could energize pro-democracy forces and put pressure on the West to roll back sanctions.

The junta's political juggernaut, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is closely aligned with Than Shwe, is top-heavy with recently retired generals and is fielding 27 ministers. It is contesting all the estimated 1,158 seats.

Its only real rival, the National Unity Party (NUP), also backed by the army, is running in 980 seats.

While the NUP and USDP are both conservative and authoritarian, they may pursue opposing social and economic policies in parliament, ultimately fostering greater democratic debate in a country where an estimated 2,100 political activists and opposition politicians are behind bars, diplomats said.

An unexpectedly large vote for the NUP could also be seen as a subtle jab against Than Shwe since it is thought to be closer to a different faction in the army.

“They are not of the same machinery,” a Western diplomat said of the two dominant parties, citing tensions between the two on the campaign trail. “The USDP is very much the regime's party while the NUP has a longer legacy,” he added, referring to its founding under the rule of late dictator Ne Win.

Ne Win was placed under house arrest in 2002 by Than Shwe, who accused him of treason. Ne Win died that year.

Despite such differences, the military will emerge the unquestioned winner. Twenty-five percent of seats in all chambers are reserved for serving generals. That means army-backed parties need to win just 26 percent of seats for the military and its proxies to secure a majority in the legislature.

But the army appears to be taking no chances. At least six parties filed complaints to the election commission, claiming state workers were forced to vote for the USDP.

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