Above: Buddhist monks walk near a polling station in the capital, Rangoon. There have already been reports of intimidation. This is the first election since 1990, when pro-democracy candidates won by a landslide in a result that was ignored by the military junta.

A woman checks names on voters' lists displayed outside a polling station at Inle Lake, north-eastern Shan State, 6 November.

Two men ride a tricycle past a campaign poster for the junta's Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Scrutinising a party chart. Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, is still under house arrest.

People cast their vote at a polling station in Rangoon. The internet has barely been functioning in the city for weeks; it is thought that the junta orchestrated failures to prevent information-sharing.

Burmese exiles and supporters protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, shouting anti-junta slogans, 5 November.

Political activists dressed as Burmese soldiers guard a mock-ballot box outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, 5 November. There is tight security at polling booths across the country.

All photographs: AFP/Getty Images.