Myanmar’s historic parliamentary elections drew long lines of enthusiastic voters Sunday and represent a milestone in the Southeast Asian nation’s transition to Democracy, said the incoming chairman of the Carter Center, which monitored the process.
Speaking from Yangon, Jason Carter — former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s grandson — said he met voters who showed up hours before the polling stations opened and then waited patiently for their turn to cast ballots.
“For the most part, it was excitement,” said Carter, 40, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate who is on his first overseas trip as the incoming chairman of the Carter Center, an independent election observer organization based in Atlanta. “You had a lot of folks who were very calmly waiting in very long lines in order to cast ballots.
“One person that we talked to said he had been there since 3 in the morning. I said, ‘That sounds like a long time to wait.’ And he said, ‘Oh, but I have been waiting much longer than that.’”
A nation of more than 50 million people, Myanmar has been ruled for decades by its military, which controls important ministries and a quarter of the seats in parliament. That parliament is expected to choose a president in March.
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