AP: Myanmar held a referendum Saturday that likely will solidify the ruling junta's hold on power, even as it appeared overwhelmed by a devastating cyclone that killed tens of thousands of people.
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In a country where the last election was held 18 years ago, many people had no idea how to vote. Some asked each other or officials, "Where do I go?" or "What do I do?" as they walked into curtained booths to cast their ballots.
The referendum seeks public approval of a new constitution, which the generals say will be followed in 2010 by a general election. Both votes are elements of what the junta calls its "roadmap to democracy."
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But the proposed constitution guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the military and allows the president to hand over all power to the military in a state of emergency.
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Some 27 million of the country's 57 million people were eligible to vote, although balloting was delayed for two weeks in the areas hardest hit by the May 3 cyclone. 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."
"This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead."
-Ecclesiastes 9:3
Such mindless grasping of petty power is barbaric & savage in the extreme. More then 20,000 lie dead upon the ground, many more lie injured and starving on top of them, and famine is rapidly spreading.
So the logical response? Hold and election.
In case you've missed the connection, this is the same nation where the Buddhist monks lead a 'revolt' that was subsequently squashed into a bloody pulp on the stones of Rangoon.
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3 comments:
Did you hear the one today about the junta taking international aid packets and putting stickers on them with the generals' names, as if it's from the Burmese government (I refuse to call it Myanmar out of principle) instead of elsewhere?
The evil pigs.
Yeah, I read about that too.
I'm calling this junta government maynmar, rather the tossing the countries name of Burma under the bus unnecessarily.
The reason I don't call it Myanmar is that the name is the junta's idea. They've stolen the country.
I think a Nuremburg-style trial is in order for these thugs masquerading as generals. At the end, a date with the hangman, known in British slang as Jack Ketch.
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