Myanmar awaits results of landmark election

People in Myanmar are awaiting the results of the first openly contested national election in 25 years.

Votes are still being counted, and officials say preliminary results are now not expected until later on Monday.

But Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) is widely expected to make sweeping gains, ending decades of military control.

The military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) has been in power since 2011.

In one of the earliest and most significant known results, the ruling party's Shwe Mann, who is speaker of the lower house of parliament, conceded defeat in his constituency to the NLD candidate.

Myanmar's historic election

"I'm really happy because from what I heard the NLD is winning. I couldn't sleep until 11 or 12 because I was looking everywhere for results," San Win, a 40-year-old newspaper vendor told the AP news agency.

International observers say the voting process was generally smooth, with some isolated irregularities.

But correspondents say there have been some reports of incomplete voters lists, and of advance votes being delivered to polling stations very late on Sunday evening.

And hundreds of thousands of people - including minority Rohingya Muslims - were also denied voting rights, raising concerns about the fairness of the poll.

US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the elections as a step towards democracy, but added that they were far from perfect.

Vast turnoutAbout 30 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's election in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

Turnout has been estimated at about 80%, in what were the first national elections since a nominally civilian government took power in 2011.

More than 6,000 candidates from more than 90 parties were vying for parliamentary seats.

A quarter of seats are reserved for unelected military representatives, who are expected to side with the USDP.

The NLD, lead by former political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, therefore needs to win 67% of contested seats in order to gain a majority and be able to appoint the president.

BBC reporters in Myanmar on Twitter:Jonathan Head: "So Suu Kyi never showed at NLD HQ. Near impossible to get through crowd. They partied hard anyway. Just voting has been such a big deal."

Jonah Fisher: "Delays automatically arouse suspicions but there is considerable bureaucracy involved in verifying and declaring too.."

James Menendez: "So 16 hours after polls closed, here we are with the results so far of #Myanmar Election... possibly nothing until 3pm."

Fergal Keane: "Announcement of 1st election results delayed by six hours. No reason given but no obvious grounds for unease."

Ms Suu Kyi cannot become president herself, because of a clause in the constitution which bars anyone with foreign children from holding the post. Her two sons, with her late husband, are British.

Despite this, she has insisted she will lead the country and be "above the president" if the NLD takes power.
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Current President Thein Sein has said he will accept the election result.