Lest any of Burma's 21 million eligible voters mistake the military junta's decision to hold parliamentary elections as an invitation for a democratic free-for-all, the government had gone out of its way to hand every advantage to the army-backed National Unity Party. The country's leading dissident, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 44, was barred from running for office and kept under house arrest. Other opposition politicians were similarly disqualified and detained, . and politicking was confined mostly to private homes. The day before last week's election, officials unexpectedly lifted martial law, which had been in effect since September 1988, in parts...
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