Chaing Mai (Mizzima) - Burmese state media announced today that details of the election laws be published in state-run newspapers tomorrow.
Today's announcement said the Union Election Commission Law, Political Parties Registration Law, Pyithu Luttaw (People's Parliament) Election Law, Amyotha Hluttaw (National Parliament) Election Law and State or Division Parliament Election Law and a law for the creation of an election commission will be available tomorrow and will be published in book form.
No date for the election has been announced so far. Burma's military ruler General Than Shwe has over the past two months said publicly on three occasions that a national election will be held this year.
Few objective observers of Burma believe the upcoming election will be free or fair. Many western countries and the United Nations have asked the Burmese government to hold inclusive free and fair elections.
There are presently more than 2000 political prisoners detained in Burma, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta's Home Minister Maung Oo recently told a gathering of the junta backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) that Aung San Suu Kyi would be released in November when her current term of house arrest expires. It is likely that this will deny her a chance to campaign during the election period.
Aung San Suu Kyi is effectively barred from holding office by the new constitution due to a clause that bans those married to foreigners from serving in government. Aung San Suu Kyi was married to a British professor who died from cancer; many believe that the military regime designed the foreign marriage clause specifically to prevent the Nobel Peace prize winner from running for office.
The constitution was approved in May 2008 during a sham referendum held just days after much of Burma was hit by Cyclone Nargis. Under the new constitution the military is guaranteed a central role in national affairs and an effective veto over any change to the widely despised constitution.
