Expectation and unease as Myanmar prepares to vote

Final preparations were underway on Saturday for Myanmar’s first meaningful election in a generation, the day before the historic poll that could see Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition launched to power after decades of army rule.

Her National League for Democracy party is tipped to emerge as the largest party in parliament, a result that would upend Myanmar’s political landscape, which has been dominated by the military since independence.

President Thein Sein, a former general who has led reforms since the sudden end of outright junta rule in 2011, insists his government – and the powerful army – will respect the outcome of the vote. Authorities have computerised the electoral roll for the first time in an effort to ensure a free and fair vote across a vast, poor country. 

Thein Sein has also urged the public to cast their ballots in an election trailed as the centrepiece of reforms. But tens of thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine state have been disenfranchised, while ethnic rebellions mean the vote will not be held in some areas. Observers fear many voters – especially in constituencies home to large numbers internal migrant workers –may have been missed from the voter list.