Burmese military chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe has a number of plans under his sleeve to ensure his continued hold on power following the planned election this year, according to a former senior intelligence officer in Burma’s Ministry of Defense.

Just before Thu Wai, the chairman of Democratic Party (Myanmar), arrived on an organizing trip at Dala Township in Rangoon recently, he found police in civilian clothes waiting for him.

A new party formed by renegade members of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's disbanded party has received a permit to participate in Burma's first elections in two decades, state media reports.

A provision in the 2008 Constitution requiring every citizen to serve in the armed forces may be used to enact military conscription in Burma following the election.

Amid accusations that the USDP has been using state resources, the Burmese junta has moved to declare the party's assets separate from those owned by the USDA.

The Yangon City Development Committee in eastern Rangoon files a law suit against a new political party that sought donations from people in public markets. 

The National League for Democracy (NLD) hand-delivered a letter of complaint to Burma’s Union Election Commission (EC) office in Naypyidaw on Monday in an attempt to prevent the breakaway National Democratic Force (NDF) party from using the kha mauk, a traditional Burmese farmer's hat, in its logo.

Burma's press censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), is strictly censoring political news in weekly journals, causing the Peace and Diversity Party (PDP) to rethink its decision to participate in the coming election.

A leading member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has told visiting Australian officials that the newly formed party has sufficient finances because it has inherited funds from the junta-backed civic organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), according to a source who attended the meeting but who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.

Members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) are being favored for selection as members of election sub-commissions in wards and village tracts for the election to be held later this year.