Posted on 05/15/2008 5:42:02 AM PDT by period end of story
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar announced Thursday that a constitution won massive support in a referendum -- a claim slammed by a leading rights group as an insult to the country's people.
The document, which critics say will cement nearly four decades of military rule, was approved by 92.4 percent of the 22 million eligible voters last Saturday, said Aung Toe, head of the Referendum Holding Committee on state radio. He put voter turnout at more than 99 percent.
The vote has also come under fire for being held while the country responds to a massive cyclone that has killed tens of thousands of people.
''This is really insulting to the people of Burma,'' said David Mathieson, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch in Bangkok, Thailand, using an alternative name for Myanmar.
''There is simply no way that 92 percent ... would have voted 'yes' on a document that they know very little about and that most have never read,'' said Mathieson.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Pity the Burmese people.
What is this “Myanmar” I keep seeing in print?
Not reading or understanding has never stopped our Congresscritters from voting for a bill.
A travesty of justice.
“Myanmar”-Saddam Hussein would’ve been proud.
For the Myanmar leaders to conduct this kind of vote while 10 of 1000’s of her people are dead or dying tells me all I need to know about them.
Pity the Burmese people indeed.
A volley of missiles would do the trick.
Yet the bastion of democracy ignores the plight of the poor people of Myanmar.
Why? Should we wait for the Al Qaiders to take hold before it's worth going there?
Shame.
Formerly called Burma.
still called Burma by all of my Burmese friends.
Myanmar is the communist name for the country.
‘’There is simply no way that 92 percent ... would have voted ‘yes’ on a document that they know very little about and that most have never read,’’
People were threatend if they did not vote, and if a villages vote was not almost unanimous, it would be destroyed
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