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Constitution approved: junta

YANGON: Voters in Myanmar have overwhelmingly approved a Constitution that critics say will perpetuate the military’s decades-old grip on power in this Southeast Asian nation, state radio said Monday.

The constitution was approved by 92.5 per cent of voters in a referendum carried out in two phases — first on May 10 and then May 24 in the cyclone-hit areas of the Irrawaddy delta and Yangon, it said.

The overall turnout was 26.8 million out of 27.4 million eligible voters — or 98 per cent.

The second round of balloting was irrelevant since the main vote on May 10 already approved the draft document by a nearly identical 92.4 per cent.

The junta says the constitution will pave the way for a general election in 2010. The constitution guarantees 25 per cent of parliamentary seats to the military and allows the President to hand over all power to the military in a state of emergency — elements that critics say defy the junta’s professed commitment to democracy.

The Constitution would bar Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, detained leader of the pro-democracy movement, from public office.

The military refused to honour the results of the 1990 general election won by her National League for Democracy.

The Constitution would come into force only after the first session of Parliament, which cannot open until after the 2010 election. — AP

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