Myanmar enacts law on constitution vote

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YANGON, Myanmar (AP news) – Myanmar’s military government said Tuesday that it had set the rules for a referendum on a new constitution, a step on a purported “roadmap to democracy” that critics call a sham.

The announcement broadcast on state TV and radio evening news said the junta had passed a law covering the matters such as the preparation of electoral rolls, vote counting and postponement and cancellation of voting.

Planning for the vote has been widely criticized for failing to include any input from opponents of military rule, and critics says the new charter is aimed at perpetuating army control.

Detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party warned last week that the ruling military junta’s unilateral announcement this month of a constitutional referendum and general elections was undemocratic and could hurt national stability.

It stopped short, however, of advocating a boycott or a “no” vote for the draft constitution.

The government did not set a date for the constitutional vote and said the law itself will be published Wednesday in all three state-run newspapers.

It has said general elections will be held in 2010 but released no other details.

Guidelines for a constitution released by the government late last year would bar Suu Kyi from national office because she was married to a foreigner — her late British husband, Michael Aris — and enjoyed the rights to a foreign passport, residency and other privileges as a result.

The government also said Tuesday that a 45-member Referendum Convening Commission has been established to oversee the process. The names of all 45 members were read, and most were representatives of the country’s ethnic minorities, as well as at least two legal experts.

The minorities had complained they were being kept from having a real voice in the constitutional process, and the list could be an effort to appease them.

Myanmar has not had a constitution since 1988, when the current junta took power after violently suppressing mass pro-democracy demonstrations. The army has ruled the country virtually continuously since a 1962 coup.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under international pressure to make democratic reforms, especially since it violently quashed peaceful mass protests last September. The U.N. estimates at least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained in the crackdown.

Many Western nations, including the United States, maintain political and economic sanctions against the junta because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.

On Monday, Washington extended its sanctions against some of the junta’s allies, making it difficult for them to hold or trade assets outside Myanmar. President Bush said in a written statement that, “concerted international pressure is needed to achieve a genuine transition to democracy in Burma.”