Myanmar's electoral commission has told opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stop calling the country Burma and instead call it Myanmar, its official name.

In a statement published in The New Light of Myanmar, the electoral commission chided Suu Kyi: "As it is prescribed in the constitution that 'the state shall be known as The Republic of the Union of Myanmar,' no one has the right to call the country Burma." Suu Kyi is in her right to do so, and should continue doing so, in light of worldwide condemnation of Myanmar's military regime.

Disagreement on what to call the country follows Suu Kyi's high-profile trip to Europe, where she continually called the country Burma. Observers believe that authorities are trying to assert themselves after Suu Kyi, who leads the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was widely praised during her trip.