Critics have dismissed the elections as a sham due to the exclusion of Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

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European and Asian leaders at an EU-Asia summit On 5 October (Tuesday) in Brussels joined forces to urge Burma's junta to release political prisoners and ensure that the 7 November elections were free and fair.

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg urged ASEM leaders meeting for the summit in Brussels to 'speak with one voice against the gross mistreatment of the Burmese people.' 'That means being unequivocal: These elections will be neither free nor fair,' Mr Clegg wrote in a column in the International Herald Tribune, adding that the election result was a 'foregone conclusion'.

The leaders of 46 nations attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) encouraged the military regime to 'take the necessary measures to ensure that these elections would be free, fair and inclusive,' said the text adopted at the summit, also attended by Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

'The timely release of those under detention would contribute to these elections to be more inclusive, participatory and transparent,' it says. Amnesty International says some 2,200 political prisoners are languishing in the country's jails.

Subsequently, the world association of parliaments on 6 October (Wednesday) called on Burma to immediately release 12 lawmakers from jail ahead of elections next month.

In the modern history of Burma, the 1990 General Elections have been recognized as a noteworthy milestone. After 26 years of military dictatorship, the people of Burma got an opportunity to vote for a government of their choice. It was one of the free and fair elections that had taken place in the South-East Asia region at that decade.

But regrettably, the election-results were not honored by the military regime. While pronouncing it has been going for democratic reforms, the junta has been launching a major offensive upon the opposition NLD since the 1990 elections result materialized. Afterwards, by fair means or foul, the junta's has repeatedly targeted to do away with the people's mandate that was given to the NLD in the 1990 General Elections.

Up until now, there are 12 Members of Parliament in the junta's notorious prisons. They are namely (1) Dr.Kyaw Kyaw (NLD, arrested 18- 09-2002); (2) Khun Tun Oo (SNLD, arrested 09-02- 2005); (3) Kyaw Khin (NLD, arrested 25-02-2005); (4) Kyaw Min (NDPHR, arrested 17-03-2005); (5) Kyaw San (NLD, arrested 17-03-2005); (6) Khin Maung Win (NLD, arrested 31-03-2006); (7) Than Lwin ( NLD, arrested 29-09-2007); (8) Win Myint Aung (NLD, arrested 28-04-2008); (9) Nyi Pu (NLD, arrested 12-08-2008); (10) Dr.Tin Min Htut (NLD, arrested 12-08-2008); (11) Kyaw Khaing (NLD, arrested 13-07-2009) and (12) Saw Hlaing (NLD, arrested 30-03-2005).

In a resolution, the human rights committee of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) urged Burma's military junta to immediately and unconditionally end incarceration of 12 MPs.

"Twelve parliamentarians are continuing to languish in prison simply for having exercised their rights to express themselves," it said.

The committee raised "serious doubts" about the junta's desire to ensure that the historic elections were a "sincere" reflection of the will of Burma's people.

Mexican senator Rosario Green, the head of the committee, highlighted that the 12 members of parliament were among 2,100 political prisoners on the country. Green also said that twelve Burmese MPs have all been sentenced on the basis of legal proceedings which blatantly disregarded their right to a fair trial. Green said that in the past the IPU's watchdog had examined "many" other cases of parliamentarians in Burma "who at one time or another ended up in prison for speaking their minds."

"None of them can stand in the elections, because all those who have been the subject of a conviction are automatically disqualified," Ms. Rosario Green added. The IPU is an association of 155 parliaments from around the world.

ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) also repeatedly calls on the military junta to work together with ASEAN and the international community to bring about changes and democratic reforms in the country through political dialogue with the NLD and ethnic leaders.

The caucus repeatedly calls on unconditional release of all political prisoners in Burma, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ethnic leaders and elected MPs.

Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) urges the military authorities of Burma to release all MPs-elect still in detention immediately and unconditionally, and to guarantee their physical integrity and respect for their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association as their duty commands.

Currently, situation of Members of Parliament in prison cannot be observed because the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has been forced to end visits to political prisoners in Burma since 2006.

According to an analytical report by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), there are at least 2,186 political prisoners including 414 NLD members, 255 Buddhist-monks and 233 ethnic nationalities in junta's prisons, reflecting the systematic denial of fundamental freedoms of expression, opinion and association.

The military authorities' inhumane treatment upon those prisoners of conscience expose violations of the right to life and dignity, the right to be free from torture, and the right to health and an adequate standard of living. The nature of their arrest and the judicial system through which they are sentenced are descriptive of the lack of rule of law and a culture of impunity, practicing in Burma.

Critics have dismissed the elections as a sham due to the exclusion of Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Most important raison d'être is that detaining nearly 2,200 political prisoners including a Nobel laureate will lead to an abortive election of the year eventually.

Authors Bio:

Zin Linn was born on February 9, 1946 in a small town in Mandalay Division. He began writing poems in 1960 and received a B.A (Philosophy) in 1976.

He became an activist in the High School Union after the students' massacre on 7th July 1962. He then took on a role as an active member in the Rangoon Division Students' Union. He Participated in a poster-and-pamphlet campaign on the 4th anniversary of 7 July movement and went into hiding to keep away from the military police. He was still able to carry out underground pamphlet campaigns against the Burmese Socialist Programme Party ( BSPP). However, in 1982, he fell into the hands of MI and served two years imprisonment in the notorious Insein prison.

In 1988 he took part, together with his old students' union members, in the People's Democracy Uprising. In November of that year, he became an NLD Executive Committee Member for the Thingangyun Township and later became superintendent of the NLD Rangoon Division Office.

In 1991, he was arrested because of his connections with the exiled government, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment in the notorious Insein Prison. In last week of December 1997 he was released.

Zin Linn was an editor and columnist and contributed articles to various publications, especially on international affairs, while in Burma.

He fled Burma in 2001 to escape from military intelligence and worked as information director for the NCGUB from 2001 to 2012. He is also vice president of the Burma Media Association which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers. Zin Linn is still writing articles and commentaries in Burmese and English in various periodicals and online journals on a regular basis.