The Stateless Rohingya Blog

An elderly woman passes in front of a polling station set up for advanced voting in central Rangoon on 31 March 2012. (Reuters) The National League for Democracy (NLD) and independent by-election monitors are crying foul as early votes are cast in Burma’s by-elections. Polls opened for early voting on 31 and 30 March. Earlier this month, the Union Election Commission (UEC) announced the list of people eligible to cast early votes, which included election officials, civil servants, elderly citizens, residents with poor health and prisoners.

Aung San Suu Kyi's landmark win shifts attention back to Thein Sein's military-backed government and 2015 general election. Burma's president, Thein Sein, has 'genuine wishes for democratic reform', says Aung San Suu Kyi, but adds she is unsure as to just how much backing he has from his government. Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters With Nobel laureate and democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi seemingly headed to public office for the first time in Burma's history, all eyes have shifted to the military-backed government in Naypyidaw, where one-quarter of the 664 parliamentary seats are reserved for the military and where many worry that change may be much harder to achieve than both locals – and the world – had hoped.