TAUNGGYI, SHAN STATE

The two ethnic Shan “tiger” parties had jostled for top spot, the military made their presence felt, and voter turnout threatened to overwhelm polling stations, but by 4:30pm most polls were closed, vote counting had begun and The Lady was leading the field.

At polling station number 134 in Taunggyi, the Shan State capital, so many votes for the NLD were being called out that the ward election commission official responsible gave up shouting out the full NLD title, and – in a comic turn to the day’s events – resorted to shortening the name to “Nee” instead.

The scale of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s mounting victory – in this one polling station at least – was being welcomed with a thumbs-up by many observers to the count, both official and those gathered outside staring through the window.

One elderly lady kept repeating “very good” and giving the thumbs-up. By 6:15pm the two Pa-O observers from the Pa-O National Organisation – young women in colourful turbans and black velvet jackets – were looking on resignedly.

Two days before Taunggyi went to the polls, U Tin Oo, the efficient and helpful chair of the district election commission, predicted Shan voters would be enthusiastic, but patient. He was right.

The patience – mostly as a consequence of voter enthusiasm – was necessary. Even by the time polls opened at 6am queues of prospective voters were building up.

In the vast Eastern Command compound on the outskirts of Hopone township, where over 3500 members of the military were registered to vote, young military students approaching the station started running to get there ahead of each other after seeing the length of the queues.

By 8am, two hours after polls opened, long lines were winding round polling stations in Taunggyi town.

A huge queue – a mix of soldiers, military families and civilian voters from nearby – waited at a high-school polling station situated just inside the military compound housing Eastern Command’s headquarters.

Among those watching voters as they stood in line was the commander of Eastern Command, who said he had come to vote and decided to stay to “help with security and oversee the queue”.

Election commission officials had said that military would not be acting as polling station staff, but it seemed likely the presence of the powerful regional commander contributed to voters’ reluctance to comment to The Myanmar Times on their feelings about the poll.

Elsewhere many other voters had to wait hours in the sun to cast their votes. More than an hour before polls closed at 4pm, polling station chiefs were reporting turn-out of well over 70 percent.

A number of polling station heads said the queues were in part due to the voting process that meant each ballot paper had to be signed by two different witnesses. In stations with a large number of voters entitled to cast a fourth vote, for an ethnic representative, that meant getting a total of eight signatures on four slips.

“That has held things up a lot,” said Daw Sao Kyi Win, who was overseeing voting in Taunggyi polling station 2 where 2678 people were registered to vote. By 3pm around 1700 people had voted, a turnout of over 70pc.

Daw Sao Kyi Win said she believed turnout would have been even higher, but it was “travelling season” and many people had gone to Thailand to work.

However, while the election commission has come under criticism for a number of serious failures in the lead-up to the election, on the ground at least staff and volunteers appeared to be dedicated to doing the best job possible in often difficult circumstances.

In some areas queues were so long by mid-morning it looked as if there were no way all voters would be able to vote before 4pm, but contingency plans – as pre-advised by the Union Election Commission – were under way in which gates would be locked then, but those already in line would be allowed to vote.

“Of course we will let them have their chance to vote,” said a polling station head in Ayethaya quarter.

When The Myanmar Times called U Tin Oo to ask if this would delay results, he said he would “arrange to have extra volunteers sent to the stations with the biggest queues” if necessary.

The Myanmar Times spoke to four people outside a station just after 4pm who were locked out having arrived too late. They all said they had visited the station several times earlier in the day, but had been put off by the queues. All also said they would have voted for the NLD.

Staring forlornly through the green metal gate at those still queuing inside, U Myint Tun, from Sein Paing quarter, a shopkeeper, said, “I came three times already, but each time the queues were too long. I am very disappointed not to be able to vote now.”

At the Hopone military compound, advance votes – amounting to 567 according to an observer from the Union Pa-O National Organization, another ethnic Pa-O party – arrived after the 6am deadline set by the UEC.

Local UEC officials blamed the delay on lack of transport and staff, and seemed genuinely embarrassed by the system failure. They said it would be up to senior officials to decide what would happen with these votes.

It seems likely that if they were unable to get the votes in time to a station where international observers were present, then a similar problem will have occurred in other remoter stations.

On initial impression, though, the Taunggyi township poll seemed to have been carried out without any serious glitches. One senior embassy representative from an ASEAN country noted concern that voter registration slips had been handed out a week in advance and voters were not being asked to show other forms of ID on arrival at the station.

Overall though he believed the poll had gone well.

Results from polling stations elsewhere in Taunggyi were still being counted as this newspaper went to press. However at polling station number 134 in Taunggyi, NLD supporters among the observers were already celebrating victory even before 7pm.

Out of 1205 votes cast, the NLD lower house candidate Daw Thon Ngwe had won 976 votes while her nearest rival – the USDP candidate – had just 178.

“I am so very happy,” said 35-year-old U Kan Aung, who was waiting in the courtyard outside the polling station desperate to get the result. “Now things are really going to change for the country.”

Daw Thon Ngwe said, “I am so happy to have this opportunity, but I don’t want to celebrate too much until we hear the rest of the results from other stations.”