Elections in Burma are a rarity. Burma's government is a military dictatorship, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which is essentially made up of military heads. Oppositionparties are banned, but exist illegally.
After Ne Win's repressive regime under one party rule, the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), collapsed in August 1988 after the 8888 Uprising, and the military staged another coup d'etat the following September, they stated that they were going to hold "free and fair" elections in 1990. The first (and only) elections to the People's Assembly (Pyithu Hluttaw) under the new military regime, renamed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), were held on 27 May1990. The major opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory with a majority of 392 out of the 492 seats; thus, under a parliamentary system, the NLD would form a new government. However, the SLORC refused to acknowledge the results, and as a result the People's Assembly never convened.
