It is now more than three months since the unveiling of electoral laws on March 8, but the Burmese military junta has yet to announce an election date. Political parties that registered are still waiting to hear if they have been accepted.

If the colonial design and intent had deprived the majority of the population from voting in pre-independence Burma, the disfranchisement of much of the population in newly independent Burma (1948-62) was rather accidental. It was caused by the civil war.