Burma's National League for Democracy, led by democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, has won an absolute majority in the country's parliament, the election commission has said.
Suu Kyi, who is banned by law from the country's presidency, has said she would take a position "above" the president should her party win a majority.
After years of brutal repression Burma's freedom movement has prevailed and the world has a new democracy.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party has won 49 of the first 54 lower house seats so far.
That was something to celebrate in one of the country's biggest cities Yangon, as well as across the nation.
The day started very differently with people in the city strangely subdued as many heeded official advice and stayed at home.
Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party is on course for a landslide victory in Burma's most democratic election for decades.
The party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to prove popular, but may still face an uphill struggle in parliament.
Aung San Suu Kyi always chooses words carefully and as she uttered one sentence it emphatically sounded like a gauntlet being thrown down.