AP, Naypyitaw :President Thein Sein, the archrival of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, voted Sunday in Myanmar’s grandiose capital, built from scratch by the military and symbolic of its half century of iron-fisted rule over the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.A not-unlikely victory by democracy candidates in this bastion of soldiers and civil servants would inflict a humiliating blow to Thein Sein’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party and the generals, many of them resident here and who still exercise decisive behind-the-scenes control in Myanmar.The 71-year-old president, making no comment to the media, cast his ballot at a high school near his opulent villa and the vast 664-seat Parliament from which the country’s next leader will emerge. Thein Sein has served as president since 2011, instituting tentative reforms but still widely viewed as beholden to the military for his power. Born of humble origins, he rose through army ranks to become a senior general and a military-appointed prime minister.Waiting to cast their ballots at the school polling station were mostly government officials and employees who were reluctant to reveal their political colors or say little beyond that they were excited to be voting in a free election and hoped for positive change in their country. Khin Kyi Htun, a 30-year-old Parliament staffer, wearing a green blouse finally revealed that she was “voting green,” the USDP color.
