Junta-ruled country to hold first elections in 20 years
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi not allowed to run
Her party won a landslide victory in 1990, but junta rejected results
Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962. Critics say the November 7 elections -- its first in two decades -- aim to create a facade of democracy.
The constitution requires more than 100 military nominees in parliament, which critics say is aimed at tightening the regime's grip on the Southeast Asian nation.
Democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi has said she will not vote in the elections.
Her party won a landslide election victory in 1990, but the military junta rejected the results.
The regime recently passed a law that made Suu Kyi ineligible to run because of a court conviction. The Nobel laureate has called the law unjust. Her supporters have said the conviction was a way to remove her from the election campaign.
Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest. The new law forced her party, the National League for Democracy, to choose between honoring her as its leader and risking the party being declared illegal -- or ejecting Suu Kyi from the party and contesting the election. It decided to skip the race.
Read CNN reporter's firsthand account of Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis
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