Burma's press censors have barred domestic news agencies from reporting about pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's name appearing on the electoral role in the November election, according to sources in Rangoon's media.

WASHINGTON—A top Indian official on Thursday said that November elections in Burma may offer hope for the country's future.

“We've tried to engage with Myanmar [Burma]  and to encourage

Junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidates are using Cyclone Nargis rehabilitation projects in the Irrawaddy delta and other state projects across the country to campaign for the election.

Burma's Union Election Commission (EC) has censored campaign ads submitted by ethnic political parties that make reference to a federal union in Burma, several ethnic leaders have told The Irrawaddy.

WASHINGTON — Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win on Tuesday assured the United Nations general assembly that the November general elections will be free and fair, even as the international community and Burmese people have labeled it a sham election.

Burma's election campaign may have officially begun, but the authorities in Mon State will not allow the only Mon party the freedom to campaign publicly and are restricting party events and rallies to private houses and public halls, according to the secretary of the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP), which is registered to run 34 candidates in seven townships in Mon State at the Nov. 7 general election.

WASHINGTON—The 14-nation “Group of Friends” on Burma formed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the Burmese military junta to make the forthcoming November elections inclusive, participatory and transparent and repeated its call to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi.

WASHINGTON—UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has convened a meeting of his 14-nation “Group of Friends” on Burma to discuss the current situation in the country and the Nov. 7 general election, which most of the Western world said lacks legitimacy.

RANGOON—Campaigning has begun officially in Burma for the November elections, with state television and radio broadcasting the first sanctioned party announcements.

The Burmese regime's announcement that detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be permitted to vote in the Nov. 7 election is merely a cynical ploy to confuse the Burmese public, according to one of her closest political colleagues.