Hlegu (Myanmar): A proposed military-backed constitution in Myanmar appears to have won overwhelming approval in a referendum today in which there was visible intimidation of voters, witnesses said.

Witnesses and local officials who watched the local counting of ballots said the vote appeared to average 80 per cent to 90 per cent in favour of the draft charter. The ruling junta's critics consider the proposed constitution unfair and undemocratic.

Final official results of the referendum will not be announced until after late voting on May 24 in areas badly hit by recent Cyclone Nargis.

Witnesses said they saw cases of intimidation of voters at various polling stations around the country.

The referendum sought public approval of a draft constitution, which the generals say will be followed in 2010 by general elections. Both votes are elements of what the junta calls a "roadmap to democracy."

However, the proposed 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.

Its provisions also would bar Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained leader of the country's pro-democracy movement, from public office. The military refused to honour the results of the 1990 general elections won by her National League for Democracy party.

The fear of the military, which has ruled since 1962, is so great that few people were expected to mark "X" - which stands for "no" to the constitution - on their ballot, making the outcome a foregone conclusion. Widespread rumors had said the results were already fixed to deliver an 84.6 per cent vote in favour of the charter.

Source : PTI