Myanmar holds by-elections

Voting was underway yesterday for Myanmar’s parliamentary by-elections with 69 candidates in the fray for 13 seats.The 69 candidates, 62 from 24 political parties and seven individual candidates, are competing for 13 parliamentary seats in nine regions and states, where 1,383 polling stations are set up, reports Xinhua news agency.Of the 13 open parliamentary seats, four are available with the House of Representative (Lower House), one with the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and eight with the state or region parliaments.Of the 62 candidates, 13 were nominated by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) to compete in all seats, while 10 by the former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the rest were sent by other parties.In Yangon region, a total of 100,553 eligible voters were expected to vote in two township constituencies, namely Tanmwe and Seikkan, open for each seat of the House of Representatives and region parliament respectively.More than 900,000 eligible voters were expected to cast their ballots.