A Legal and Human Rights Analysis..."Burma?s military regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), intends to hold national elections sometime this year, the first since 1990. The polls will be the fifth step in the socalled ?Seven Step Roadmap to Democracy? (the Roadmap) announced by the SPDC in 2003. The first four steps related to the development of a new constitution, adopted in 2008, which perpetuates military control of the government. It was drafted with virtually no public participation and approved in a referendum orchestrated by the regime. The fifth step offers no prospect of establishing a government based on the will of the Burmese people...The SPDC has presented the Roadmap process and the 2010 elections as important steps to lift Burma out of its desperate economic and social circumstances. But, contrary to the regime?s expressed intention, the process thus far has merely reflected a concerted effort by the military to retain power rather than establish a government based on the will of the people. The constitution and the new election laws, issued on March 8, 2010, do not comply with even the most basic international standards. The true nature of the electoral process has to be viewed in the larger context of the procedure that led to the development of Burma?s constitution and the history of oppression by the military regime. The constitution drafting excluded participation by independent civil society leaders and opposition political figures, and the referendum by which it was approved was deeply flawed. Criticism of the draft constitution was prohibited, massive state resources were used to promote its passage, and there were no checks to ensure that the vote count reflected the votes cast... 5 The new election laws were developed by the military government and effectively prohibit longstanding opponents of the regime – political prisoners and any persons wishing to associate with political prisoners – from competing in the polls. The new National Election Commission lacks independence; the SPDC directly appointed its members with no public input.1 One of the new laws, on political party registration, has resulted in the silencing of many of the most prominent opposition voices. It required political parties to register or reregister in order to remain in existence and compete in the elections. But they could do so only if none of their members were currently imprisoned based on a court conviction. This requirement presented parties with a choice of either expelling prominent imprisoned leaders or declining to reregister. Under those circumstances, leading opposition groups, including the NLD, chose not to reregister and were required to shut down and disband as of May 7. There have been allegations that the state is giving support to a political party with strong military ties – the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). It grew out of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a regime-created organization that has received substantial government support since 1993.2 The USDA also has been associated with political violence and intimidation. The USDP registration application listed 27 ex-military officers among its members along with the sitting prime minister and other government ministers. The election laws prohibit civil servants from being members of political parties, but the election administrators declared that ministers were not civil servants..."