Yangon: Polling stations opened today in parts of cyclone-hit Myanmar, as the military regime asked voters to approve a new constitution just one week after tens of thousands of people died in the storm.

The military delayed the vote for two weeks in the areas hardest-hit by Cyclone Nargis, including in the main city and former capital of Yangon.

But the ruling generals pushed ahead with the referendum in other parts of the country, with polling stations visited by AFP open by 6:15 am (0515IST).
The referendum is the first vote here since 1990, when detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi led her National League to Democracy (NLD) to a landslide victory in elections, a result the junta has never recognised.

The regime said the constitution will clear the way for democratic elections in two years, but the NLD said it will entrench military rule and has urged voters to reject the charter.

The junta has ignored the NLD's calls to delay balloting and focus instead on helping the 1.5 million people still in desperate need of aid in the wake of the cyclone.

The regime has withheld even basic information about the polls. The number of registered voters is not publicly known. The social welfare minister has said that Myanmar is home to 27 million people over the age of 18,but that includes monks, prisoners and others not eligible to vote.

Registration was carried out door-to-door by the authorities and lists of voters were displayed last Saturday at some local council offices.

People who could not find their names on the list had just one week to appeal to the military authorities. They have given little information about the number or location of polling stations across the country, though most voting was taking place at schools or religious centres.
Source : PTI