Alex Ritson

There may be some connection to that.

It's possible there are military families.

But actually, the crowd's pretty diverse, and this is a very diverse city.

The numbers aren't huge there.

I mean, compared to previous elections here,

The atmosphere is very, very different.

It's very quiet.

There's really no sign there's an election on when you're outside the polling station.

In fact, people didn't even know where the polling stations were until yesterday.

I think in this area, quite a lot of people will vote willingly.

Though some people we've managed to speak to, it's very difficult.

People are very frightened when journalists talk to them.

There is this dreadful law which effectively criminalises any kind of negative comment about the election.

So people don't know what they can and can't say, what will get them sent to prison.

Generally, people have just mumbled to us that they...

feel they have no choice, that they've got to vote.

And I think a lot of people will not vote.

And of course, the picture I'm seeing here in Mandalay is in many ways deceptive.

This is a school.

It's very orderly.