Myanmar junta to hold elections in 2010

FREEDOM TO DEMOCRACY IN BURMA

Reuters -

Sunday, February 10YANGON, Feb 9 (Reuters) -

Army-ruled Myanmar said on Saturday it will hold a referendum on a new constitution in May followed by elections in 2010, a move critics said was aimed at deflecting pressure after last year's crackdown on protesters."We have achieved success in economic, social and other sectors and in restoring peace and stability," the junta announced on state television four months after the army crushed monk led, pro-democracy protests, killing at least 31 people.

"So multi-party, democratic elections will be held in 2010," said the statement issued in the name of Secretary Number One Lieutenant-General Tin Aung Myint Oo, a top member of the junta.The elections would be the first held in the former Burma since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won multi-party elections later rejected by the military, which has ruled in various guises since 1962.The NLD, which boycotted a constitution- drafting convention while its leader, Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest, called the announcement "erratic".

"They have now fixed a date for the election before knowing the results of the referendum. I can't help but wonder how the referendum will be conducted," NLD spokesman Nyan Win said.The Burma Campaign UK, a London-based pro-democracy group, called the announcement "public relations spin"."It is no coincidence that the announcement comes at a time when the regime is facing increasing economic sanctions following its brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations, " Campaign director Mark Farmaner said in a statement.

He said it was a "move away from democracy, not towards it," noting that the draft constitution would enshrine military rule by giving it veto power over decisions made by parliament.In Bangkok, a spokesman for a group of exiled MPs elected in 1990 but who fled after the junta rejected the result, said the news meant nothing unless Suu Kyi was freed and took part."Without the participation of Suu Kyi, the NLD and ethnic parties the people will not accept this constitution, " said Zin Linn of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.Saturday's announcement from the junta did not make clear whether the NLD would be allowed to take part, but the constitution is believed likely to disbar Suu Kyi from office by ruling out anyone married to a foreigner.Suu Kyi's husband, British academic Michael Aris, died in March 1999.

The new constitution, now being drafted after the completion of a national convention first convened in the 1990s, will be finished soon, the statement added."In accord with the fourth step of the seven-step roadmap to democracy, a nationwide referendum will be held in May 2008 to ratify the newly drafted constitution, " it said.The government announced the seven-step roadmap in 2003 but had refused to set a firm timetable until now.Some Southeast Asia neighbours have been increasingly critical of Myanmar's foot-dragging on reforms, while the West has tried to pressure China, one of Myanmar's few friends, to coax the generals to change.Beijing, which has interests in Myanmar's resource wealth such as natural gas and timber, has refused to back sanctions against the regime. But last month it urged the regime to allow U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to return to Myanmar soon to promote a genuine dialogue between the junta and opposition.

"China may have put pressure on them to announce something acceptable. They may have used the Olympic Games as a bargaining chip," a Yangon-based Asian diplomat said of the junta's announcement.Rights groups have seized upon the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as a chance to exert pressure on China for everything from the conflict in Darfur to Beijing's support of Myanmar's junta.

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