Myanmar constitutional referendum, 2008

A constitutional referendum was held in Myanmar on 10 May 2008 (24 May 2008 in some townships) according to an announcement by the State Peace and Development Council in February 2008. According to the military government, the new Constitution of Myanmar will ensure the creation of a "discipline-flourishing democracy".Multi-party elections followed in 2010.

The constitutional referendum law was enacted and a referendum commission was set up on 26 February 2008. Reportedly, the law ensures the secret casting of votes and requires a public count of the ballots to prove it is fair.

The draft constitution was published and the date of the referendum finally announced on 9 April 2008. Among the changes that the referendum seeks to make are:

Three weeks before the referendum, the front page of the state press was headlined "Let's Vote Yes for National Interest." Many songs, poems, cartoons and editorials urging people to vote "yes" were published in local and national news media.

The opposition National League for Democracy called for people to vote "no" to the constitution. However, the N.L.D. claimed their campaign against the constitution was violently suppressed, with activists arrested and material confiscated.

The Kachin Independence Organisation, an opposition group which participated in the government's "National Convention" process, called on its members to abstain, saying the government had failed to respond to its demands.

Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar a few days before the referendum, and the vote was postponed to 24 May in the most severely affected areas — 7 out of 26 townships in Irrawaddy Division and 40 out of 45 townships in Yangon Division.United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the referendum to be postponed in full to concentrate on the "national tragedy," but the government rejected this. The Junta came under heavy criticism for diverting critical resources from survivors toward the referendum, including evicting refugees from shelters such as schools so that these can be used as polling stations. Massive fraud and intimidation was also reported.

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Wikipedia