Report: Burma’s 2010 Electoral Framework: Fundamentally Undemocratic- a Legal and Human Rights Analysis (NDI, 3 Aug 2010)

The process surrounding national elections in Burma, expected later this year, “is clearly designed to guarantee a pre-determined outcome and, therefore, does not meet even the very minimum of international standards,” according to an analysis by NDI that was released Sunday.

NDI examined the country’s new election laws and constitution in the context of preparations for what will be the nation’s first national polls since 1990. In that earlier election, the people of Burma voted overwhelmingly for the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, but the military government refused to let the NLD take office and Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 18 years imprisoned or under house arrest.