Advance voting got under way yesterday for those unable to cast a ballot in their constituencies on polling day next weekend, many of whom are soldiers and civil servants.

The early ballot comes after overseas nationals cast advance votes earlier this month ahead of the November 8 polls trumpeted as Myanmar’s freest and fairest in decades.

But some international election monitors have raised concerns over the transparency of the advance vote, which in the last 2010 general election was marred by allegations of widespread fraud.

At a polling station in Thaketa township on the outskirts of Yangon, officials said they had nearly 7000 people on their list as they waited for voters to arrive.

Sub-commission chair U Aung Tin, 74, described the voter lists, which have previously been decried by the opposition National League for Democracy for their litany of errors, as “80-percent perfect”.

Observers from both the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and the NLD were in place to watch proceedings.

“Everything is ready,” said NLD monitor and writer U Thein Htay, adding that the elections marked “the hope of every single person in the country”.

But concerns have been mounting over transparency and religious conflict ahead of the widely anticipated polls, which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s party is tipped to win if fair.

In a report released on October 27, the US-based Carter Center – one of several international groups monitoring the vote – said “observers will not have access to the casting of ballots during out-of constituency advance voting, including in military installations”.

Last week European Union observers – a bigger monitoring mission than Carter – said they would be given access to voting on military bases.

Tens of thousands of soldiers are expected to take part in voting at military bases before the election, because they are stationed far from their home constituencies.

The NLD’s main rival is the USDP, which supports President U Thein Sein.

Advance voting will end on November 7, unlike in 2010 that controversially saw advance-voter ballots arrive on polling day, as well as accusations of some arriving after polls closed, sparking concerns of ballot stuffing.