Myanmar awaits final poll count

(Vatican Radio)  Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is quoted saying she expects her party to sweep the board in that nation's election. Counting is underway of votes in Sunday's poll, the first largely free vote in 25 years. Election monitors have expressed qualified praise for how it went.

Listen to Alastair Wanklyn's report:

As results came in, opposition supporters cheered and sang.

International monitors said the election was flawed but the polling went well. "The voting process on election day was a success," said Jason Carter of the Carter Center.

In this parliamentary election a quarter of seats are set aside for Myanmar's army.

For the opposition to have a majority it needed to win at least two-thirds of contested seats.

"Despite these flaws, Myanmar is definitely on a positive trajectory towards a peaceful democratic transition," said Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, who was in Myanmar to monitor the vote.

The European Union sent a team, which said Myanmar now needs to undertake further reforms to remove the military from politics.

"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," Chief European Union observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said.