Land confiscation has increased dramatically in Arakan State in western Burma as a result of increased military deployment, according to a report released on Monday by the All Arakan Students’ and Youth Congress (AAYSC).

Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein's Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was approved by the Election Commission to contest in the upcoming general election, the state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday.

At least two new political parties in Burma will launch a website as a strategic part of their election campaign, according to party leaders.

Burma's military regime has not signaled that it wants regional help in holding the country's first election in 20 years, said the secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Vietnam on Sunday.

Burma's Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), the junta-backed social organization, began dismantling its branch office signs in several Rangoon's townships on Monday, according to photographs obtained by The Irrawaddy.

The head of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in Kachin State criticized links between the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), an armed ethnic cease-fire group, Kachin sources said.

Although no official announcement of the discussions is expected to be made, diplomatic sources said that when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Burma's junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe in Naypyidaw on Thursday, Wen Jiabao brought up both Burma's announced election and ethnic issues surrounding the Sino-Burmese border.

Seven leading ethnic political leaders inside and outside Burma have been criticized for their election activities by a Rangoon-based group called the  Burma Ethnic Politics Watch Network (BEPWN).

Burma's Election Commission has warned registered political parties that they must submit lists showing they have the prescribed number of party members or face being abolished, state-run newspapers reported on Saturday.

The presidential and local elections in the Philippines were observed by 41 international observers from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL). This was the first year the PCOS—precinct count optical scanner—machine system was used.