YANGON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar President U Win Myint cast his votes in Yangon's Tarmwe township constituency on Saturday, hours after the country's parliamentary by-elections kicked off in the morning.
Tarmwe constituency is the place where U Win Myint won as a representative to the House of Representatives in the 2015 general election, representing the National League for Democracy (NLD). The parliamentary seat was left open at the Tarmwe constituency due to U Win Myint's presidency appointment.
Over 900,000 eligible voters across the country are expected to cast their ballots for open seats in the parliament.
A total of 69 candidates, including 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 were set up.
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 political party candidates, 13 were nominated by the ruling 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 are expected to vote in two township constituencies, namely Tarmwe and Seikkan, open for each seat of the House of Representatives and region parliament respectively.
With 123 polling stations set up in Yangon's Tarmwe township constituency, NLD candidate U Toe Win competes against USDP's U Myo Win Kyaw, while with two polling stations erected in Seikkan township constituency, NLD's U Than Htaik Aung runs against USDP's U Nay Myo Aung.
Three other open seats for the House of Representatives are each available in Chin state's Kanpetlet, Shan state's Laikha, Mandalay region's Mingyan township constituencies, while the single seat for the House of Nationalities is vacant in Kachin state's Myitgyina township constituency.
Open seats for state or region parliaments are scattered in six other regions and states' township constituencies, including Rakhine state's Yathedaung in addition to Yangon's Seikkan as well as ethnic Shan constituency for Mandalay region.
It is the second by-elections taking place during the tenure of the incumbent government led by NLD.
The polling booths will close on the day at 4:00 p.m. local time (0930 GMT) and will be followed by open counting of votes.
Election result or names of winning parliamentarians-elect will be announced by the Union Election Commission Election Result Center in parts starting on Saturday evening through the following days.
