Myanmar's opposition NLD says it is confident of victory in the first openly contested national election in 25 years

Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy says it is confident of victory in the first openly contested national election in 25 years. An NLD spokesman said it expected to win about 70% of seats. Official results have been released for just 12 seats, all won by the NLD. The military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) has been in power since 2011. The 12 seats announced so far are all in Yangon. The acting chairman of the USDP has told BBC Burmese that he has lost his own seat in the constituency of Hinthada to the NLD - seen as a key indicator of election results. A quarter of the parliamentary seats are reserved for the army, and for the NLD to have the winning majority it will need at least two-thirds of the contested seats. But Ms Suu Kyi cannot become president because the constitution bars anyone with foreign children from holding the post. Her two sons, with her late husband, are British. Tens of thousands of officials and volunteers have been counting the votes, first in each of the 50,000 polling stations, then tallying them in constituency offices of the Election Commission. The full results will not be known for at least a few days, and the president will only be chosen in February or possibly later. US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the elections as a step towards democracy, but added that they were far from perfect. More than 6,000 candidates from more than 90 parties were vying for parliamentary seats.