- Worldwide attention is trained on by-elections in Myanmar over the weekend
- Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says the vote won't be 'free and fair'
- But she says she doesn't regret participating, as the campaign has raised awareness
- The international community has applauded recent steps toward greater openness in Myanmar
Yangon, Myanmar (CNN) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday that elections taking place this weekend would not be "free and fair" but that her party still hoped to win as many parliamentary seats as possible.
Suu Kyi, who was released in 2010 by Myanmar's military rulers after years under house arrest, said that she believed there had been voting irregularities, illegal activities and intimidation either committed or encouraged by official entities.
But she said at a news conference outside her residence in Yangon that she did not "at all regret having taken part" because the election campaign had raised political awareness among Myanmar's population.
Worldwide attention is focused on the April elections, which are seen as a test of the Myanmar government's commitment to lasting political reform. The government has invited in hundreds of foreign journalists and election observers to witness the voting.
Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is in competition for 44 of the 45 seats up for grabs in the by-elections. It had boycotted previous elections.
Its candidate in one constituency has been rejected by the election commission because his parents had taken up foreign residency, Suu Kyi said, adding that the party planned to challenge the candidate's exclusion later.
The international community has applauded recent steps toward greater openness in Myanmar, also known as Burma, long secluded from the rest of the world after a military junta grabbed power in 1962. The generals are loosening their grip after international sanctions and criticism over their regime's human rights record.
Results are expected about a week after the voting.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reported from Yangon, and Jethro Mullen from Hong Kong.
