Myanmar 'forces' civil servants to vote for charter
Source: 05-MAY-2008 Intellasia | Reuters
May 5, 2008 - 7:00:04 AM 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.

A Myanmar protester residing in Japan holds a poster of pro-democracy politician Aung San Suu Kyi during a march demanding human rights in Myanmar, on the eve of Human Rights Day in Tokyo in this December 9, 2007 file photo. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

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.