_ by Shan Herald Agency News

Widespread juggling of votes has been reported throughout Shan State, the biggest state in the Union of Burma, leaving it with no option but to reject the sanctity of the nationwide referendum held on 10 May, according to the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), the party that won the 1990 elections in the state.

“As a party and as citizens of the Union, we can never accept or acknowledge any official result that says the charter has been approved by the people,” said Sai Lake, the SNLD spokesperson, “because it (the referendum) wasn’t won fair-and-square.”
 
In Kengtung, he maintained, only two ballots papers were given to each household, regardless of the number of its members, to either tick (in support of the draft) or cross (in opposition to the draft), as one wished. The remaining ballot papers were then ticked off by the referendum commissioners and cast in the ballot box by themselves.
 
In Lashio, northern Shan State, voters were handed out ballot papers already ticked off by the authorities for them (the voters) to cast in the ballot box. In some cases, authorities told voters they could go home as their ballot papers had already been cast.
 
In Rubyland Mogok, there were allegedly some 900 No votes against 700 Yes votes, but the authorities settled the problem by ticking Yes for voters who failed to appear. “They even counted ballot papers marked with symbols other then ticks or crosses as Yes voters,” he claimed.
 
The SNLD participated in the junta-organized National Convention held “to lay down constitutional principles” from 1993-1996. It together with the NLD and 9 party United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) refused to attend the reconvened National Convention in 2004, saying their call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi was rejected and the authorities failed to clarify how the discussions on the junta-proposed 6 Objectives and 104 Constitutional Principles would be handled. Its leaders Khun Tun Oo, Sai Nyunt Lwin and 7 others were detained and sentenced to 75-106 years in prison in 2005. One of them “Math” Myint Than died in May 2006 while serving a 79-year sentence at Sandoway.

Kunhing Township 

Local authorities had forced people to tick in support of the draft constitution during night time, and threatened them not to leak out the news, resulting in 90% support in the Kunhing township, 141 mile west of Kengtung, capital of eastern Shan State.
 
On 9 May 2008, at 23:00 to 24:00, local authorities from different agencies such as Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC), Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), Police and others. They were divided into 4 groups and went to 4 quarters to wake up the people from their beds.
 
“All those who were over 18 were told to tick in the ballot papers. Some people insisted that they were going to vote at the polling station on the next day anyway. Why couldn’t the authorities allow them to do so?” said a source who recently arrived at the border.
 
But authorities replied, “Tomorrow you can go and vote No. But tonight you must tick in this ballot paper.”
 
Many people were upset but they could do anything except to comply with. They [people] were then told not to leak out the news to other townships.
 
Local authorities announced two days later that the support for the draft constitution was 90% from Kunhing Township.
 
There are 1,500 to 2,000 households in Kunhing.