Burma’s ruling regime has increased its censorship of the country’s already highly restricted press in the run up to the first election in 20 years, an international media watchdog said Wednesday.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which describes the military-ruled country as a “censors’ paradise”, said there was nothing to suggest local or foreign media would be able to freely report on or ahead of the 7 November vote.

It said media restrictions were tightening as the polls approach, citing as one example the week-long suspension of the weekly Modern Times for changing the headline of its weather forecast without permission.

An article about the possibility of heavy rain in September was given the headline “Will it come in September?” which the censors suspected was an allusion to the anti-government Saffron Revolution in September 2007.

“Without press freedom, the election will just be a sham,” the group said in a statement.

Military-ruled since 1962, Burma has more than 150 privately-owned newspapers and magazines but they are all subject to pre-publication censorship by a press scrutiny board run by an army officer, RSF said.

“This kind of censorship is virtually unique in the world and prevents the emergence of any editorial independence,” added the watchdog, which ranks Burma 171 out of 175 countries in its 2009 press freedom index.

RSF said police were also continuing to prevent the circulation of any pro-opposition publications and coverage of election preparations was restricted to a few – mainly pro-junta – media.

“The coverage is above all limited to the electoral manoeuvring of the generals in the government and the registration of political parties,” the group said.

The election has already drawn strong criticism for tough restrictions on pro-democracy parties and rules that bar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from standing.

Suu Kyi was never allowed to take power after her 1990 election victory and has been in detention for much of the last 20 years.