AS phase 1 of the multiparty democratic general election 2025 was held in 102 townships across the nation yesterday, el­igible voters cast their ballots freely to select their favourite candidates.

At the relevant polling stations in Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory including Zeyathiri, Pobbathiri, Pyinmana, Zabuth­iri, Lewe, Dekkhinathiri, Ottara­thiri and Tatkon townships, the polling station heads and offi­cials displayed the ballot boxes to representatives of political parties and domestic and inter­national election observation teams, secured these boxes with safety seals, and announced the opening of the polling stations at exactly 6 am.

Members of election sub­commissions at different levels, polling station heads, deputy polling station heads and mem­bers inspected the Myanmar Electronic Voting Machines (MEVM), including the control units and ballot units, in the presence of representatives from political parties and do­mestic and international elec­tion observers, to ensure the voting machines are free from fraud and that the voting pro­cess can be conducted more accurately and efficiently.

Even before 6 am, voters lined up at their respective polling stations to cast their votes. When the polling sta­tions opened, they verified their voter list numbers against their citizenship scrutiny cards and, in the private voting booths, used the MEVM machines to freely and independently vote for their favorite candidates contesting for seats in the Py­ithu Hluttaw and the Amyotha Hluttaw.

Domestic and internation­al election observation teams monitored the casting of voters in an independent, secure and peaceful manner at respective polling stations while internal and external media covered the information about elector­al process.

At a time when the voting process ended, polling station heads and members took out the cast ballots from the control unit of the MEVM in the pres­ence of representatives from political parties and election observers to count the ballots systematically.

In the yesterday’s multipar­ty democratic general elections 2025, there were over 24.26 mil­lion eligible voters nationwide. A total of 4,863 candidates from 57 political parties competed in 692 constituencies across the nation, including six parties contesting nationwide for the Union and 51 parties contesting within the respective regions and states.

In Nay Pyi Taw Union Terri­tory, there were 909,832 eligible voters. A total of 74 candidates from seven political parties in­cluding five independent candi­dates competed in the election at 626 polling stations in eight constituencies of the Pyithu Hluttaw and one constituency of the Amyotha Hluttaw, total­ling nine. — MNA/TTA