AP
Posted: 2008-05-10 02:43:57

YANGON, May 10 (Kyodo) - (EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE INFO)

Myanmar’s junta held a national constitutional referendum Saturday, ignoring calls from the opposition and from around the world for its postponement in the wake of last week’s devastating cyclone that killed at least 23,000 people and left as many as a million homeless.

Voters in most parts of the country went to the polls to cast their votes to decide whether the military-drafted constitution should be adopted or not.

Polling booths opened at 6 a.m. and were due to close at 4 p.m.

The junta had announced Tuesday that it was postponing until later this month voting in 40 out of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven out of 26 in the Ayerawaddy delta, which took the brunt of the Cyclone Nargis.

International criticism has been mounting over the junta’s response to disaster wrought by the cyclone, with top U.N. officials warning of worsening misery for survivors and the spread of diseases unless the junta eases restrictions slowing the delivery of international aid.

Myanmar has 27 million eligible voters but it was not announced how many polling stations were set up in the country or when the results of the referendum will be announced.

The draft constitution, which the junta says would usher in multiparty democracy, includes provisions that would guarantee the military’s continued role in the government and effectively ban detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from ever becoming the country’s leader.

Pro-democracy groups including Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy have urged voters to reject the draft charter, saying it is designed to entrench military rule and limit the role of independent political parties.

Western counties and human rights groups have said conditions for a free and fair referendum do not exist in Myanmar because of widespread repression, including arrests of opposition activists, media censorship, bans on political meetings and gatherings, the lack of an independent referendum commission and courts to supervise the vote.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military in various forms since 1962. The NLD won the last general election by a landslide in 1990 but was never allowed by the military to assume power.