Voting proceeds in Myanmar despite cyclone
Ruling generals send their people to the polls to vote on a constitution that critics view as a stacked deck aimed at maintaining their power.
YANGON, MYANMAR — In this cyclone-ravaged country where most people have more important things on their minds, like the daily struggle for fresh water, food and shelter, Myanmar's ruling generals sent their people to the polls today to vote on a constitution that opponents call a cynical attempt to maintain the junta's grip on power.
The regime insists that the vote to approve the new constitution, held in parts of the country that weren't affected by last weekend's devastating storm, is part of its road map to "discipline-flourishing genuine multiparty democracy."
But critics charge that the constitution, drafted by a 54-member commission handpicked by the junta, is a stacked deck: mandating a role for the military in the government and banning detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running for office because she was once married to a foreigner.
Amid images of voters casting ballots, state-run television broadcast video of junta leader Gen. Than Shwe and other generals handing out boxes of relief aid to survivors of the cyclone. In case anyone missed the point, the boxes were plastered with the generals' names.
The military regime, which has been in power since 1962, has refused to grant visas to most foreign aid workers eager to get into the disaster zone, assess survivors' health and housing needs, and coordinate the delivery of medicine, food, shelter and building materials.
The generals went ahead with the referendum despite a warning Friday from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Myanmar's rulers should "concentrate their very limited resources, time and energy on saving lives and reconstructing their country. Then I think they can do the referendum at a later date," he added.
The junta postponed the referendum in Yangon, the country's largest city, and the rest of cyclone-hit southern Myanmar. It plans to call people in those areas to vote May 24.
The people of Myanmar, also known as Burma, have not voted in nearly two decades. The last elections were in 1990, when Suu Kyi stunned the regime by winning in a landslide; the generals annulled the results and jailed many of the victors.
Criticizing the regime is still a crime punished with a stiff jail sentence, and ordinary people rarely have anything good to say about the generals. So those willing to talk about the vote in Yangon today spoke on condition they not be named.
