国际英语新闻：Multi-party general election begins in Myanmar

NAY PYI TAW, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- A multi-party general election began across Myanmar Sunday morning under the 5th step of the country's seven-step roadmap with people starting to go to polls and cast votes at respective polling booths.

Residents in Myanmar's new capital of Nay Pyi Taw started to go to polls on Sunday morning at 6 a.m. (2330 GMT Saturday), the official start of the voting, with a large number of local people casting votes as part of the country's multi-party general election that began on the day.

Before the starting hours, voters have been crowded in front of a kindergarten in Zabuthiri township where the constituency No. 1 was set up for the polling.

The parliamentary election, which represents the first in two decades, is underway nationwide on secret polling system, observed regionwise by over a dozen groups of foreign diplomats and United Nations officials based in Myanmar.

Local and foreign newsmen stationed in Myanmar are also arranged to take news in different parts of the country.

A total of 37 political parties, approved by the Union Election Commission as being qualified for the election entry, took part in the polls held across the country's seven regions and seven ethnic states for over 1,000 parliamentary seats.

A total of over 3,000 parliamentary candidates including 82 independent ones are contesting for about 1,160 parliamentary seats, of which 326 are reserved for the House of representatives, 168 for the house of Nationalities and 665 for region or state parliament.