Myanmar general elections to be held on November 8

Myanmar's Union Election Commission on Wednesday formally announced the holding of multi-party general elections on November 8 and invited registration of parliamentary candidates.

Registration of candidates start on July 20 and the process will close on August 8, Xinhua news agency reported.

The commission also set August 11 as the deadline for those who want to withdraw candidature.

The upcoming elections will choose representatives to the next term of parliament, which will next year form a new government with a five-year term.

The commission, which is compiling the basic voters list for the elections, has designated a total of 1,171 constituencies across the country for the vote at four levels of parliament representatives with 330 constituencies set for election of the House of Representatives (lower house), 168 constituencies for the House of Nationalities (upper house), 644 constituencies for regional or state parliaments and 29 constituencies for regional or state parliaments for national races.

According to the commission, there are 83 registered political parties in Myanmar and each of them is set to compete in at least three constituencies.

The commission said that it will invite international observers to monitor the polls, but they would be restricted to designated areas.

The current term of the government, which started from March 2011, will expire in March 2016.