Myanmar official says constitutional referendum will be free and fair

2008-04-24 15:01:21 -

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Voters will be allowed to watch ballot counting and other steps will be taken to ensure fairness in a May referendum on Myanmar's proposed constitution, an election official in the military-ruled country was quoted as saying.
Measures have been taken to ensure that voting is free and fair according to international standards, the government-controlled Myanmar Times newspaper on Thursday quoted Hla Soe, chairman of Yangon's Referendum Holding Commission, as saying.
Voters will be allowed to watch the ballot counting, Hla Soe said.
However, detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said the rules will not ensure a free or fair referendum. The party reiterated its call for voters to reject the proposed constitution.
The pro-democracy party's statement said the draft charter fails to guarantee democratic rights and practices, and includes articles that would make it virtually impossible to amend.
Critics say the constitution is a sham designed to perpetuate military rule and to prevent Suu Kyi from running for office.
The junta announced in February that it will hold the referendum in May and general elections in 2010 _ the first specific dates for steps in its previously announced «roadmap to democracy.
The National League For Democracy has been trying to urge voters to reject the draft constitution, but harassment of pro-democracy activists and long-standing restrictions on freedom of speech have made it difficult for the party to spread its message.
The government, meanwhile, has launched an aggressive campaign through state media with songs, cartoons, articles and slogans urging people to approve the constitution.
The Myanmar Times quoted Hla Soe as saying security officials will be assigned to more than 2,500 polling booths across Yangon, the country's biggest city, where at least 4 million people will be eligible to vote in the May 10 referendum.
Myanmar has more than 56 million people. The total number of eligible voters was not immediately available.
The draft constitution allots 25 percent of the seats in both houses of Parliament to the military. It also empowers the president to transfer legislative, executive and judicial powers to the military's commander in chief for up to a year if the government declares a state of emergency.
The draft also bans anyone who has enjoyed the rights and privileges of a foreign citizen from holding public office _ a rule that would keep Suu Kyi out of government because her late husband was a Briton.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current junta seized power in 1988 and refused to honor the results of 1990 general elections won by Suu Kyi's party.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi is under house arrest and has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
The junta has been under strong international pressure to make democratic reforms, especially since it crushed peaceful pro-democracy protests last September. The U.N. estimates at least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained.