Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said by-elections to be held this weekend would not be completely democratic.
"I don't think we can consider it a genuine free and fair election if we consider what has been happening here over the last few months," the Nobel laureate said.
Irregularities in the run-up to Sunday's vote in Burma, also known as Myanmar, are "beyond what's acceptable in a democratic election," she added.
"Still, we are determined to go forward because this is what our people want."
The National League for Democracy (NLD) leader said the polls were boosting people's interest in politics in the country after decades of outright military rule ended last year.
The polls mark the first time that Ms Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past 22 years as a political prisoner, is standing for a seat in parliament.
"It is the rising political awareness of our people that we regard as our greatest triumph," she said. "We don't at all regret having taken part."
Experts believe the regime wants the pro-democracy leader to win a seat in a parliament dominated by the army and its political allies to burnish its reform credentials and encourage an end to Western sanctions.
But Ms Suu Kyi said that she had no plan to accept a position as minister in the army-backed government if offered a role because under the constitution she would be required to give up her seat in parliament.
"I have no intention of leaving the parliament to which I have tried so hard to get into," she said.
The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was never allowed to take office.
