The polls are closed in Myanmar and now the waiting begins... for the results of the country′s first free election in 25 years.
Though an early vote count isn′t expected until sometime this week，... the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi is widely expected to win a majority of the seats up for grabs.
Lee Ji－won reports.
The lines were long，... as people were excited to cast their ballots in Myanmar′s first free election in 25 years.
″We will see more change in the area of human rights. Our country will develop more. I come here to vote with the belief that our situation will improve， especially in the area of human rights.″
More than 6，000 candidates from 91 political parties are running for five－year terms in the country′s 664－seat parliament.
But only 4－hundred－98 seats are up for grabs， because 25－percent of the seats have already been reserved for unelected military representatives.
The main rivals vying for the seats are the National League for Democracy party， the party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi，... and the ruling Union Solidarity Development Party， the majority of whom are former members of the military junta.
The election is significant for the Southeast Asian nation， as it takes a big step closer to democracy.
Myanmar， also known as Burma， has been under the grip of a military junta for five decades， though it handpicked a nominally civilian government in 2010.
The party of the former Nobel Peace Prize laureate is largely expected to win the majority of the seats in this election.
She cannot， however， be president because of a constitutional amendment that bars the election of anyone who is married to a foreigner or has children who are foreign nationals... and both her sons and late husband are British.
Suu Kyi has said she would be ″above the president″ if her NLD party prevails in this election.
The preliminary results will be announced early this week but the official count isn′t expected until sometime in the middle of this month.
Lee Ji－won Arirang News.
