More than 10,000 observers to monitor Myanmar's election

YANGON - A total of 10,500 local and international observers have been in place to monitor Myanmar's Nov 8 general election which has entered into a five-day countdown.

According to the Union Election Commission (UEC) , the 10,500 observers include 1,118 representing diplomats, international election observation bodies and 9,406 from local observation organizations.

In addition, 290 media personnel from 45 foreign media organizations will cover the election, the commission said in a statement published Tuesday.

The statement urged the observers to abide by the commission's code of conduct drafted for observers and the existing laws of the country in order to avoid bias.

Two information centers for the results of the election have been set to launch in Yangon's Myanmar Peace Center and Nay Pyi Taw's Office of the UEC starting from the election day.

A total of 6,040 candidates involving 91 political parties and independent runners will compete for more than 1,000 seats at different levels of the parliament in the election, according to the commission's revised figures.

The commission designated 1,163 constituencies for the vote at three levels of the parliament across the country, namely the House of Representatives (Lower House), the House of Nationalities (Upper House),the Region or State Parliament which also involves ethnic representatives.

Of the 1,163 constituencies, 330 are for seats of the Lower House, 168 for the Upper House, 636 for the Region or State Parliament and 29 for ethnic representatives. There are 32 million eligible voters in the country.