Myanmar (Burma), home to the world's most durable military regime, held its first elections in 20 years on 7 November. The long-ruling junta billed the poll as a fresh start, running out a new national flag and ostensibly preparing to cede meaningful control to elected civilian representatives for the first time since the army's 1962 coup d'etat.rnThe optimistic assessment is that Myanmar may have tiptoed a few inches in democracy's direction. Nonetheless, the country remains great strides away from genuine civilian government and from the separation of the armed forces - the Tatmadaw - from their monopoly on power.
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