Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been barred from running in upcoming elections and might be expelled from her own political party by military rulers under a new election law unveiled Wednesday.

The Political Parties Registration Law, published in official newspapers in Burma, also known as Myanmar, prohibits anyone convicted by a court from joining a political party, making them ineligible to become a candidate.

A new law bans Aung San Suu Kyi, shown walking with supporters in Rangoon, Burma, in 2002, from running in elections in Burma. (David Longstreath/Associated Press)

It also instructs parties to expel members who don't meet the qualifications, a clause that could force Suu Kyi's expulsion from her National League for Democracy party. Parties that don't register automatically cease to exist, the law says.

The law was met with opposition by pro-democracy individuals including Aung Thein, a lawyer who has defended activists in the country.

"It is very unfair that a party member serving a prison term for his or her political convictions has to be expelled from the party," Thein said. "This clause amounts to interfering in party internal affairs."

He said the provision would exclude many pro-democracy individuals who have been imprisoned for their beliefs.

The military junta currently ruling Burma has jailed about 2,100 political prisoners, human rights groups have estimated.

Junta offers flexibility

Hours after announcing the law, the junta began to reopen several NLD offices in the capital Rangoon, by removing red wax that had been sealed over their padlocks since 2003, said party spokesman Nyan Win.

He said he did not know how many of the party's 35 Rangoon offices had been reopened.

"Maybe they want to show some flexibility," said Nyan Win, noting that the move could be tied to a provision that requires political parties to register within 60 days of Monday.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence. Just as an old sentence was about to expire, she was handed a new term of house arrest that is to end this November.

The sentence was seen as a way to keep Suu Kyi locked up during the election campaign. Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed her latest appeal for freedom.

The new election law was immediately criticized by Suu Kyi's party and by the United States and Britain.