Burma's main pro-democracy parties conceded defeat today in the country's first election in 20 years after the biggest military-backed party said it had won up to 80 per cent of seats that were up for grabs.
The two largest pro-democracy parties accused the military junta of manipulating Sunday's election, which has been condemned by the United States, Europe and Japan as a sham to entrench military rule behind a civilian facade.
The military's political juggernaut, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), closely aligned with junta supremo Than Shwe, had won broadly nationwide, although official results have not been released, a senior USDP official said.
He said the party had picked up 75 to 80 per cent of seats.
At least six parties have lodged complaints with the election commission, saying state workers were forced to vote for the USDP in advance balloting.
"We took the lead at the beginning but the USDP later came up with so-called advance votes and that changed the results completely, so we lost," Khin Maung Swe, leader of the National Democratic Force, the largest opposition party, said.
The second-largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party (Burma), also conceded defeat.
The vote was held with Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in detention and her party disbanded for refusing to take part in an election it said was unfair.
As the votes were counted, government soldiers cleared ethnic minority rebels from an eastern border town, a Burma army officer said, after clashes that sent about 17,000 civilians fleeing to Thailand.
The fighting erupted yesterday underlining the strains ethnically diverse Burma has faced for decades.
"We've been able to clear the town, especially the populated areas," a Burma army officer said in Thailand by telephone from Myawaddy town.
He said 10 people had been killed and about 30 wounded in the clash in the town, a main gateway for trade on the 1,800km border with Thailand.
A clash also erupted along the border to the south, near the Three Pagodas Pass, and flared again today, sending about 3,000 people fleeing into Thailand, a Thai official said. Several wounded civilians were among the refugees.
The rebels involved in the clashes are a splinter faction from a group that agreed peace with the government but balked at a bid to force them to join an army-run border security force.
Ethnic minority groups that have campaigned for autonomy for decades fear that with the election out of the way, the army will move to force them into line.
US president Barack Obama said in a speech to India's parliament yesterday the Burma authorities had clearly stolen the election.
Reuters