"...how did Shadaw achieve a 100 percent turnout, when the percentage of voters who actually bothered to go to the polling stations was in the low single digits? The answer, in two words that have been repeated often since the election, is: advance votes. Throughout the country, advance votes played a key role in determining the outcome of contests that were much closer than those in Shadaw, where the USDP garnered more than 90 percent of the votes. According to research by The Irrawaddy, there were at least 60 confirmed cases of candidates losing overnight after advance votes were added to the total, despite having a clear lead as election day counting neared completion. In almost every case, the final outcome favored the USDP...Shadaw was not so exceptional after all, but rather a fairly typical example of how the USDP managed to sweep Burma?s first election in 20 years, setting the stage for a new, quasi-civilian government backed by the leaders of the current regime. However, with the shadow of a rigged election hanging over it, the USDP will have its work cut out for it to convince the Burmese people and the rest of the world that its ?victory? is indeed a step in the right direction for a country that has not known democracy for nearly half a century..."