YANGON, MYANMAR—

As official returns from the Myanmar election commission slowly trickle out showing the opposition heading to a landslide victory, international observers released their assessment of Sunday's polling process.

While observers found Myanmar’s first nationally competitive election in a quarter-century peaceful and the high voter turnout encouraging, they said they view democracy in the country as still very much a work in progress.

“The process went better than many expected beforehand. It is also true however that more is needed, more reforms are needed to ensure that truly genuine elections can take place in the future," European Union chief observer Alexander Lamsdorff said Tuesday.

One of the most high-profile international observers, former Ireland President Mary Robinson, told VOA she will not characterize the election as “free and fair.”

“I wouldn’t tend to use that expression anyway if you’ve got 25 percent of both houses (of parliament) to the military, problems with the constitution, people excluded because they’re Muslim or the Rohingya. And also because they’re in situations of conflict," Robinson said.

Encouraged

International observers said they found it encouraging that losing candidates of the governing party are accepting defeat, but added the overall verdict on the electoral process will come from the people.

“I think it was a success because we could choose the leadership we wanted – Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy," said first-time voter Khin Zar Chi Aung, 22, a university student.

“All could participate under the election commission’s rules. Every citizen holding a national ID card could vote if their name was on the rolls. But those who didn’t have the card were not eligible to vote," Dahmma Par La, a Buddhist monk, said.

Among opposition supporters there is cautious optimism now that the military generals will not repeat what they did after the 1990 election: preventing the victorious Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy from taking power.

當緬甸選舉委員會正式申報的結果中慢慢透露出(trickle out)反對黨將獲壓倒性勝利 (landslide victory)的訊息時，國際觀察員隨之發表了對週日投票過程(polling process)的評價(assessment)。

儘管觀察員見證了緬甸自四分之一世紀以來首次全國性差額選舉的平和以及振奮人心的高投票率(high voter turnout)，但也認為民主如同該國一項仍在進行中的工程(a work in progress)，尚待竣工。

「本次過程比許多事前的 (beforehand)預期還要好。但其實還有很多要做，還需要更多改革(reforms)，才能確保未來有真正公平公正的 選舉(genuine election)。」歐盟首席觀察員亞歷山大藍斯朵夫(Alexander Lamsdorff)週二時如此表示。

其中最引人注目的(high- profile)國際觀察員之一 ——前愛爾蘭總統瑪麗·魯賓遜(Mary Robinson)告訴美國之音(VOA)記者，她不會形容這場選舉是(characterize . . . as . . .)「自由與公正的」。

魯賓遜說：「我不會想用這個說法(expression)，因為軍方代表仍佔兩院(議會)的四分之一，另外還有憲法的問題，有人因為是穆斯林或羅興亞人並處於衝突狀態中 而被排除在外。」

受到鼓舞

國際觀察員認為執政黨 (governing party)的候選人願意接受失敗頗令人高興，但也補充表示(add)，整個選舉過程的總體定論 (verdict)仍將由人民評判。

首次投票的22歲大學生金札希昂說：「我認為這次選舉是成功的，因為我們可以選擇我們想要的領導者——翁山蘇姬和全國民主聯盟。」

一位佛教(Buddhist)僧人帕拉則表示：「所有人都可以依照選舉委員會的規則來參與這次選舉。名字在選舉名冊上(on the rolls)並持有國民身份證的公民都能投票，但沒有此證的人則沒有資格(eligible)投票。」

反對派支持者現在持審慎樂觀 (cautious optimism)的態度，因為這次軍事將領們將不會重複他們在1990年大選後的作為：阻止勝選的翁山蘇姬與全國民主聯盟執政(take power)。