A report in the government newspaper New Light of Myanmar refers to "Senior Gen. Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council," the ruling military body.

The general sent a message of congratulations to the Malaysian king on the 53rd anniversary of Malaysia's independence, the report said.

The military has ruled Myanmar, formerly called Burma, for most of the time since it staged a successful coup in 1962.

Shwe, 77, has been in charge since 1992 and was believed to have been among 70 leading and senior military officers who resigned their commissions last month to run in the elections as civilians.

Shwe is thought to be interested in becoming the country's president after the election. To that end, analysts believe he is ensuring that any government that involves civilians won't legally pursue him or his family for any incidents, especially in putting down democracy protests, during the junta rule.

Shwe was involved in the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a quasi-military setup with many civilian members. It was known for being a fifth column when the junta was brutally closing down protests and demonstrations.

In March the USDA became the legitimate political party USDP and is expected to field around 1,000 candidates in the election which the military call the country's "road map to democracy."

But many Western governments, as well as the United Nations, have condemned the election as selective and exclusive of many opposition groups.

The military's influence within government is assured by the generals reserving for themselves one-quarter of the seats in the new parliament. Their influence could be greatly extended if any of the nearly 30 former military officers, including Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein, who resigned in April, are elected as civilians.

Also, the election commission has been hand-picked by the junta, further eliminating any unwanted surprises for the generals, critics say.

Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Myanmar has had to defend its election process and member states have called for elections to be more inclusive of groups.

At the heart of much of the West's criticism lies the exclusion of the main opposition party leader Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 65. As head of her National League for Democracy, she won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but the generals refused to hand over power.

Election laws enacted by the generals earlier this year disallow people with prison or criminal records from running for office.

Suu Kyi, as have many pro democracy advocates, has spent years in prison or under arrest. She is currently serving a house detention order in her residence near the old capital Yangon, formerly called Rangoon.

Her NLD party refused to participate in the election under a different leader.

Despite the junta's iron fist over demonstrations and street protests, it doesn't have as much control over some parts of the country as it would like, especially in northern border regions with India, Bangladesh and China. Rebel groups regularly run money and drugs back and forth across the mountainous frontiers.

Earlier this year a Myanmar ethnic rebel group warned the ruling military that clashes are inevitable in the run-up to a national election. The head of the Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army, joined the call by some opposition groups to boycott the election.

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