The process was expected to cement military rule behind a civilian facade but also to open the door slightly to possible shifts in the dynamics of power.
“It was an empty room,” said one voter who emerged from a polling place where he said he had spoiled his ballot in protest.
Though the new Constitution guarantees the military a leading role in the state apparatus, this will be the first civilian government in the country, formerly called Burma, since a military coup in 1962. With votes being tabulated locally, it was not known how soon the results would be announced.
In the last election, in 1990, the party headed by the pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won a decisive victory, but the generals annulled the result.
The appearance of electoral legitimacy and civilian institutions may make it easier for Myanmar’s neighbors to embrace what has been a pariah state, but it is unlikely by itself to ease a policy of isolation and economic sanctions among Western nations.
Speaking in Mumbai on Sunday, President Barack Obama of the United States said that the voting was “neither free nor fair” and failed to meet internationally accepted standards associated with legitimate elections.
He said the elections “demonstrate again the regime’s continued preference for repression and restriction over inclusion and transparency.”
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said a few months ago that Washington would try a new policy of engagement, also condemned the election, saying its flaws “once again expose the abuses of the military junta.”
In an hour’s tour of Yangon on Sunday morning, there was very little sign on the streets or at polling places of a police or military presence.
Half a dozen voting centers appeared almost empty, and a resident of the country’s second city, Mandalay, said that voting had been light there as well.
“I have several reasons not to vote, but I will tell you just one,” said Soe Naing Oo, a resident of Magway, a town several hours’ drive north of Yangon. “Auntie Suu told us not to vote.”
He was referring to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party, the National League for Democracy, was not contesting what it called a sham election and had called for a boycott.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, now 65, has been held under house arrest for most of the past 20 years. Her latest term of detention ends one week after the election, and the junta has hinted that she could be released. It has often made similar hints in the past, and there was no way to know what restrictions might be imposed if she were set free.
Some analysts hold out hope that the election could bring incremental change to Myanmar. In September, Kurt M. Campbell, the United States’ assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, said that it appeared that the vote would lack international legitimacy but that it might create “new players, new power relationships, new structures inside the country” that would bear watching.
There were widespread reports of irregularities like marking ballots for voters, advertising the military-backed party at a polling place, and ballot boxes that had been stuffed or tampered with.
There were reports that members of some enterprises and offices had been told they would lose their jobs if they did not vote.
Voters were electing a 665-member, two-chamber national Parliament and 14 regional Parliaments. A total of 25 percent of those seats will be reserved for the military, and several senior military officials resigned to run as civilians. Military officers are to head the top ministries of interior, defense and border affairs, and the commander in chief of the armed forces will have power to take control of the country in times of emergency.
Seth Mydans contributed reporting from Bangkok.
