“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society,” said Mark Twain. In fewer places than Myanmar has the saying held truer where clothed men—uniformed to be more precise—have had all the influence for more than 50 years.

As Aung San Suu Kyi's lawmakers smiles for the cameras at the first sessions of Myanmar's parliament, a summit of generals convened at a base just minutes from the chamber. On every mind is the same question: who will be the country's next president?

The November 8 election in Myanmar is a step forward and a significant improvement on the manifestly rigged affair in 2010.

Candidates in Myanmar enters their final day of campaigning ahead of Sunday's general election.

Sadly neither the USDP nor NLD has chosen Muslim candidates to contest, though Myanmar has over five million Muslims. Rohingyas are automatically disenfranchised as they are not considered citizens of the country. It will be a Muslim-free election.

Myanmar's parliament deals a body blow to Aung San Suu Kyi's hopes of amending a junta-era constitution that bars her from the presidency before landmark elections, voting down a bill to end the military's effective veto on charter change.