Polling stations have closed in Myanmar's first election in 20 years. The ruling military regime left everyone guessing as to when results would be announced, saying only they could come "in time."

The streets of Myanmar's largest city were unusually quiet however and early voter attendance appeared light at many polling stations.

Reports claimed that riot police were deployed at some road junctions, but no soldiers were seen near the balloting sites.

Critics claim that it is almost certain that, through pre-election engineering, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will emerge as the victor.

The USDP is fielding 1,112 candidates for the 1,159 seats in the two-house national parliament and 14 regional parliaments.

It's closest rival, the National Unity Party (NUP) with 995 candidates, is backed by supporters of Myanmar's previous military ruler.

The largest opposition party, the National Democratic Force (NDF), is contesting just 164 spots.

Election rules were clearly written to benefit the USDP, and hundreds of potential opposition candidates - including pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi - are under house arrest or in prison.

Several parties have complained that voters have been strong-armed into voting for the junta's proxy party. Whatever the results, the constitution sets aside 25 per cent of parliamentary seats for military appointees.

The election was immediately slammed by politicians worldwide including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and William Hague.

Despite the storm of criticism, some voters and experts on Myanmar also said the election could herald a modicum of change for the resource-rich nation.

Democracy advocates are hopeful that Suu Kyi will be freed from house arrest sometime after the election, perhaps as early as November 13.

Suu Kyi's now disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in Myanmar's last election in 1990.

But the ruling generals ignored the results and have kept her locked up in her Yangon villa on-and-off ever since.

They also hold some 2,200 political prisoners in what has been dubbed the "Burmese gulag." About 1.5 million of the country's 59 million people have been disenfranchised.