YANGON, Myanmar — Among the voters braving long lines at polling places across Myanmar on Sunday, there was a sense of jubilation at taking part in what many described as the first genuine elections in their lives.
“We’ve been suppressed for a very long time by the government,” said U Saan Maw, 63, who voted Sunday and made sure his friends and family did, too. “This is our chance for freedom.”
After five decades of military rule and a series of rigged or canceled elections, Myanmar’s nationwide electionsappeared to proceed without violence, raising hopes that the country’s five-year transition to democracy had reached another milestone.
Though the official tally may not be known for days, early results on Monday showed the opposition, led by the Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leading in Yangon, Mandalay and the capital, Naypyidaw. On Monday morning, the speaker of the lower house of Parliament, Thura Shwe Mann, conceded defeat to a member of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. He posted the message to his Facebook page.
Much remained uncertain about the outcome and how the results will be received by the military establishment that still retains the reins of power.
By many measures the elections have already been less than free and fair. Hundreds of thousands of people from the country’s Muslim minority were disenfranchised by being taken off the voter rolls.
Yet those who voted Sunday said they felt a thrill knowing that their country might be guided by the will of the people after so many years of military domination. More than 32 million people were registered to vote.
“This is the first time I have voted,” said U Okkar Oo, a betel-nut seller in Yangon. “Of course I am excited.”
Mr. Okkar Oo entertained passers-by with a song, “Mama has to win!” It was an ode to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country’s independence hero, Aung San, who was assassinated just as the country was emerging from British colonial rule. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has brought star power to the elections that her rivals in the military establishment lack. She is 70, is seen as a semi-deity among many of her followers and is often called “Mother Suu.”
“Her father’s work was unfinished, and she has always felt it was her duty to finish it,” said Bertil Lintner, one of her biographers.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is a member of Parliament, a post that she assumed after a by-election victory in 2012. She voted on Sunday at a school near her home in Yangon, surrounded by reporters and photographers.
Coming to power would mean overcoming many obstacles that the generals have put in her way. Under the Constitution, the military retains control over three crucial ministries that oversee the police, army, border affairs and a vast bureaucracy across the country. Twenty-five percent of seats in Parliament are reserved for the military, which effectively means that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, must win two-thirds of the vote to secure a simple majority of the seats in Parliament.
More than 90 parties were registered to participate in the elections, including many from ethnic minority groups that may play an important role in postelection haggling over a president, who will be chosen by the upper and lower houses of Parliament early next year.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi must overcome the skepticism among the elites in Myanmar about what many describe as a domineering management style and a lack of experience in an executive role.
The generals wrote a clause in the Constitution that bans anyone who is married to a foreign citizen or whose children are foreigners from becoming president. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was married to a British citizen, and her two children have foreign nationality. But she said last week that if her party won, she would run the government and be “above the president.”
That comment drew the ire of the ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which serves as the political wing of the military.
“The president is head of the country — no one is above the president,” U Htay Oo, the head of the party, was quoted as saying in The Nikkei Asian Review over the weekend. “It would be violating the Constitution to appoint and direct the president.”
The Myanmar news media has predicted a “roller coaster” of negotiations and back-room dealings in choosing a president. Many in Myanmar say they are not fully convinced that the military will hand over power if it loses — the generals canceled election results in 1990 after Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide.
Last week, President Thein Sein said the government and the military would “follow and respect the results of a free and fair elections.” The president described the elections as “the most meaningful and important in Myanmar history.”
On Sunday, voters said their main focus was more immediate: to make sure no one cheated.
More than 10,000 election monitors registered with the country’s election commission, including members of delegations from the United States, the European Union and Japan. Voters themselves were also vigilant, posting suspected irregularities to social media. No major irregularities had been reported as of 4 p.m., when polls closed, but the counting was only beginning.
Mr. Saan Maw canceled his classes Sunday and took what he said was his first day off in three years. He plans to monitor the counting process at his neighborhood polling place.
“I’m just a citizen,” he said. “But I will be watching.”
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