The National Unity Party (NUP), the second largest party in Burma's general election on Sunday, has conceded defeat to the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), although it accuses the USDP of winning the election illegally.

RANGOON — The censorship board in military-ruled Burma, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), has said that media may not publish or air reports about nationwide vote rigging in Sunday's election, according to sources.

“We are not a loser,” said Saw Than Myint, a Shan Nationalities Development Party (SNDP) candidate in Mogaung Township, Kachin State. “The government vote count says we lost the election, but we can show the international community that this was because of cheating and the unfair election procedures.”

WASHINGTON — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the junta to turn the Burmese election into a new beginning for the country and its people.

Candidates for the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the most popular ethnic party in Shan State which is also known as the “White Tiger Party,” were defeated by candidates from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the Burmese military regime's proxy party, with the help of rigged votes and unfairly obtained advance votes, local sources say.

Several opposition parties in Burma have said they will not recognize the election results unless the country's Election Commission conducts vote-counting in a transparent and clear manner, after the election on Sunday was marred by widespread fraud and a low voter turnout.

RANGOON — Voters in Burma's first election in 20 years cast their ballots Sunday amid both a barrage of criticism that the balloting was rigged in favor of the ruling military and hope that some change toward democratic reform might nonetheless follow.

The National Democratic Force (NDF), the political party which broke off from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, sent a letter on Saturday to junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Burma's Union Election Commission (EC) calling for a repudiation of the widespread advance ballots extracted from the voters using dishonest methods.

With an armed forces of up to half a million men and women, winning the military vote is crucial in a Burmese election. Still, it appears the military regime does not even trust its own soldiers as it has ordered all its personnel and their families to cast advance votes in favor of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Officials from Burma's Union Election Commission (EC) launched a door-to-door campaign this week to collect advance votes in Rangoon and other larger cities, reflecting the military junta's fear that that the position of its proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), may not be secure due to the party's unpopularity among the electorate, according to sources.