YANGON, MYANMAR — Myanmar's ruling generals announced Thursday that a new constitution viewed by critics as a pro-government sham had been overwhelming approved by voters.
The commission in charge of the Saturday referendum said 92.4% of voters approved the constitution, state-run media reported. The pro-democracy opposition says the new constitution will enshrine military rule.
Voting was postponed in the country's largest city, Yangon, and the rest of the country's south after Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit just days before the balloting.
Most residents of the storm-ravaged areas, where disease and widespread shortages of food, clean water and medical treatment threaten the lives of injured and weak survivors, are scheduled to cast their ballots May 24.
But the military regime, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, didn't wait for complete results before declaring that the constitution had been ratified. The announcement was made the day that the government raised the official death toll from the cyclone to 43,318, still far below estimates by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
News on the referendum results appeared to be greeted with quiet resignation in rain-soaked Yangon, also known as Rangoon.
Many of the city's 7 million people still don't have electricity and running water 13 days after the storm struck. The price of rice has shot up by 50%, the cost of fuel has more than doubled, and other basic needs are sapping meager savings.
Heavy rain fell in the region throughout Thursday, and foreign aid agencies, frustrated by the government's refusal to open the isolated country to a massive international relief effort, warn that the early monsoons increase the risk of another catastrophe.
The U.N. and European Union have sent officials to Yangon to try to persuade the military regime to allow foreign teams and equipment into Myanmar, also known as Burma, to assess needs and supervise the distribution of supplies.
But so far, they have met only lower ranking government ministers and officials in Yangon, not the top generals ensconced 200 miles to the north in their remote new capital in Pyinmana.
The U.N.'s humanitarian chief, John Holmes, is preparing to go to Myanmar, but like dozens of other international aid workers, he needs a visa. Holmes applied Wednesday to enter Myanmar aboard a U.N. World Food Program plane carrying supplies.
