May 2, Reuters
Myanmar "forces" civil servants to vote for charter - Aung Hla Tun
Hundreds of government workers in Myanmar have been forced to vote in
favor of an army-drafted constitution in non-secret ballots held more than
a week before a May 10 referendum, some of the workers said.
In one of the cases, about 700 employees in the Ministry of Electric
Power-2's Yangon office had to tick their ballot papers on Wednesday with
local referendum officials looking on, witnesses said.
"We were all shocked and some people were furious but they couldn't do
anything," one of those present said. The worker did not want to be
identified for fear of recriminations from the former Burma's military
rulers.
"They said those who wanted to vote 'no' had to hand in their
resignation," the worker said.
The United States has already written off the vote, with President George
W. Bush saying it would not be "free, fair or credible" as he announced
new sanctions on Thursday against state-owned companies to put pressure on
the junta.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith also weighed in, saying the
entire process was "fatally flawed" and echoing the concerns of a host of
opposition groups that the charter was "intended only to entrench the
military's grip on power".
The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, has rejected the charter since it gives the army a quarter of
seats in parliament, control of key ministries and the right to suspend
the constitution at will.
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