Queues of people, many wearing traditional longyi sarongs, built up before daybreak at polling stations across Yangon in a sign of the enthusiasm that has accompanied the milestone vote, hoped to be Myanmar’s fairest for a generation.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party believes a fair vote will power it into government after a decades-long struggle against army dictatorship.
But the Nobel Laureate is barred from the presidency by the army-scripted constitution and the NLD faces an uphill struggle as a quarter of seats are reserved for the military.
The 70-year-old Suu Kyi is not allowed to be president under a charter that blocks anyone with foreign children from top office -- Suu Kyi’s two sons are British.
But on Thursday Suu Kyi declared an NLD win would see her take a position “above the president”, laying down a firm challenge to the army which has at all turns tried to hamper her political ascent
Known affectionately known as “Mother Suu”, she towers over the country’s democracy movement, acting as a galvanising force for the NLD.
“I have cast my vote, my duty is done,” said 74-year-old Myint Aung, at the Yangon polling station where Suu Kyi will vote later Sunday.
“I voted for the one the people want to rule,” he said playfully, before showing a little finger dipped in purple ink to indicate he has voted.
Myanmar was ruled for five decades by a brutal junta that smothered opponents with violence and jail.
But in 2011 the junta suddenly handed power to a semi-civilian government led by former generals.
Sweeping reforms since have loosened the straitjacketed economy and brought many freedoms to an isolated, wearied people -- including the release of most political prisoners.
Some 30 million people are eligible to vote, in an event that has posed major logistical challenges across a vast and poor country.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have been excluded from voting, and the poll will not be held in several border areas where fighting between the army and ethnic rebels simmers
To win a majority -- and have free rein to choose its presidential candidate -- the NLD needs to secure just over two thirds of the contested seats, although it could still make alliances with smaller parties if it falls short.
The USDP needs only around a third of seats to join up the military bloc, which is allotted 25 percent of all parliamentary seats, and select its presidential nominee.
Timeline of Myanmar's turbulent political past:
| 1988: Disastrous economic mismanagement and political repression see Burma erupt in protest. The military responds brutally, killing an estimated 3,000 people. Suu Kyi emerges as a key Opposition leader. |
| 1990: Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy wins a landslide victory in elections but the result is ignored by the military who launch a new crackdown. Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest. |
| 1991: Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest. |
| 1992: General Than Shwe becomes the new junta chief. |
| 2005: A new isolated city Naypyidaw ("Abode of Kings") is revealed as the country's capital. |
| 2007: Major protests partially led by Buddhist monks, dubbed the "Saffron Revolution," break out over the summer. Junta eventually responds once more with violence. |
| 2010: Junta holds elections in early November and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claims victory. NLD and many other parties refuse to take part. Observers do not consider the poll free or fair. Less than a week later, Suu Kyi is released. |
| 2011: In a surprise move, the junta relinquishes power to a quasi-civilian government under former General Thein Sein, who pursues reforms. Many basic rights are restored, including the lifting of restrictions on assembly and expression. Hundreds of political prisoners are freed. |
| 2012: NLD wins 43 out of 45 seats in April by-elections. Suu Kyi becomes an MP. The United States and the European Union begin lifting sanctions and Western businesses start flocking to the country. Sectarian violence flares in western Rakhine State, mainly aimed at the Rohingya Muslims |
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