Burma's Union Election Commission (EC) has finalized a list of the 37 political parties that will be allowed to contest the election set to be held on Nov. 7, according to its Notification No. 97/2010 issued on Sept. 14. On the same day, the EC posted a list of approved candidates at EC offices across the country.

Initially, 47 parties applied to register with the EC, of which 42 were approved. According to the Political Party Registration Law, however, each party must field at least three candidates in the election to retain its status as a legally registered party. Five parties that failed to meet this minimum number of candidates were therefore disbanded: the Union Karen League, the Myanmar New Society Democratic Party, the Myanmar Democracy Congress, the Mro National Party and the Regional Development Party (Pyay).

The following is the final list of the 37 political parties that will contest the election. Profiles of some of the key political parties are provided below. The Irrawaddy will continue to update this section with more party profiles as information becomes available.