Millions of Lao started voting since Sunday morning at more than 5,000 polling stations set up around the country for the 6th Legislature of the Lao National Assembly after election campaigns completed Saturday.

A total of 175 candidates will compete for the 115 seats at 5,454 polling booths across 17 constituencies, including 30 at Lao embassies and general consulates abroad.

The elections voting started at 6:00 a.m. (2300 GMT, Saturday) local time and will end at 5:00 p.m. (1000 GMT, Sunday) local time.A total number of 2,759,135 Laos have been announced as legal voters.

By implementing Article 54 of the Constitution of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and other related Articles of the Law on the Election of National Assembly, Khamtay Siphandone, the president of Laos, announced Sunday's election on Nov. 2 last year, nearly a year before the National Assembly's five-year term expires.

"The general election will be held before the current National Assembly's term expires to make it easy for the next National Assembly session to recognize the new machinery of the government and the personnel in the administration," a decree signed by the president said.

A total of 175 candidates, including 40 women, will compete for Sunday's 115 National Assembly members election. Viseth Svengsuksa,the spokesman of National Election Committee of Laos, said during a media conference in Vientiane before the election that the total number of seats has increased from 109 to 115 in 2006's election.

Out of the 175 candidates, there are 43 representatives from various sectors at national level and 132 representatives from the regions, nine candidates came from business sector and 4 of them from private sectors. A total of 49 candidates are current Members of the 5th Legislature National Assembly, which was held in 2002, said Viseth.

In order to collect ballot boxes from the remote regions in time, helicopters are ready to head for mission as soon as the poll closes. Poll results are expected to come out within days andthe new legislature is due to convene by May 8 or 9.

Source:Xinhua