Burma's political landscape ahead of the 2010 election gradually reshapes itself with more new political parties registering to contest as older parties fade away.

The rulers of Burma and Sudan face many similar issues in dealing with domestic and international relations.

The junta chief's speech on March 27 indicates he is unwilling to allow international observers to monitor Burma's election process.

The US has recognized the winners in the Sudan parliamentary election and said it will engage the new government even though the electoral process was not judged to be free or fair.

Perhaps a new breed of NLD activists can reincarnate the party using new creative strategies to directly engage a whole new range of issues that address the same goals set in the birth of the NLD in 1988.

If there is to be a new beginning, it's the NLD decision to forgo the bogus legality of the party’s existence so that a mass political movement can organically re-emerge.

In Sri Lanka, suicide bombings ceased following the government's victory over the Tamil Tigers last year. But the island nation faces a new challenge in the run-up to the April 8th general parliamentary election: political violence.

Seeing so many Central Committee members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) assembled at their headquarters on March 29 was very encouraging.

Without inclusiveness, whatever the outcome of the election, it will not be beneficial to the people of Burma.

Opinion is divided over whether Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy made a blunder in deciding not to contest the upcoming election.