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Myanmar referendum backs junta rule: reports

By Sue Chang, MarketWatch

Last Update: 2:17 PM ET May 10, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Myanmar’s military-backed constitution has
apparently won significant support in a referendum, even though many in the
country were unable to vote as they tried to cope with the devastation of a
cyclone which left many thousands of dead and missing in its wake, media reports
from the region said Saturday.

Local counting of ballots indicated that an average of 80% to 90% voted in favor
of the draft charter, the Associated Press reported.

Reports said the official results of the referendum will not be announced until
after voting on May 24 in areas badly hit by Cyclone Nargis, which swept through
the country last week.

There were apparent cases of intimidation of voters at polling stations, and the
fear of the military, which has been in power since 1962, is so great that the
outcome of the referendum was a foregone conclusion, the AP report said.

The referendum sought public approval of a draft constitution, which the junta
said will be followed in 2010 by general elections. Among other objects of
criticism, the proposed constitution would bar Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi, the detained leader of the country’s pro-democracy movement, from
public office.

Meanwhile, the military continued to restrict foreign aid shipments to survivors
and was refusing to grant entry to foreign aid workers that relief officials said
were crucial to preventing further deaths from disease among an estimated 1.5
million victims, the New York Times reported.

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