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Alert

Election analysis banned in Burmese publications

(Mizzima/IFEX) - Weekly publications in Burma have been prohibited from publishing any comment or analysis on the electoral laws being announced daily from March 8, 2010 through the State-owned media, said some editors and journalists in Rangoon.

The infamous censorship board prohibited publications from printing interviews and analyses of United Democratic Party leader Thu Way, Shwe Ohn of the Union Democracy Alliance and politician Nay Myo Wai, who have announced their intention of contesting the elections.

An editor for a publication in Rangoon told Mizzima that interviews and analyses were censored by the board in the three highest selling weekly publications in the country.

"The board told them that now only electoral laws are being announced. The parties have not been registered with the Election Commission yet. So, they do not have the right to be published," an editor told Mizzima.

Another editor said "the comments of political party members are not to be published. But we are allowed to publish comments from those who are not from politics. Derogatory comments on the electoral laws are banned."

A journalist from 7 Day News said that they are still waiting for permission from the censorship board to publish an analysis on electoral laws.

Burma's infamous censorship board, known as the 'Literary Kempetai', puts pressure and forces the media inside Burma to publish critical articles against pro-democracy activists. But it censors anything that is critical of the regime and its policies.