Fighting between ethnic rebels and government troops continued for a third day today as activists warned that the violence which sparked a refugee exodus from Burma could escalate in the aftermath of contentious elections.

Burma’s secretive military-ruled government gave no sign today of when results from the country’s first election in two decades would be released, though it is almost certain power will remain in the hands of the junta and its political proxies.

BURMA voted yesterday in its first election in 20 years as complaints of intimidation added to fears the poll was a sham to create a facade of democracy after decades of iron-fisted military rule.