By DPA
Washington : Myanmar’s plan to hold a referendum this year on a constitution is a “sham” that has excluded the opposition and failed to provide an “open and fair process” for restoring democracy to the country, the US has said.
“The Burmese (Myanmarese) junta’s announcement that it will hold a referendum on a new constitution in May demonstrates its lack of seriousness about an open and fair process for the restoration of democracy,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Myanmar’s military regime announced Saturday that it will hold the referendum and elections in 2010 under continued pressure from the international community following a violent crackdown on democratic activists last year.
“The problem is not with the setting of a date for elections but with the non-transparent and exclusive processes being promulgated by the regime,” Perino said.
The Bush administration issued a fresh round of sanctions last week targeting top regime officials and associates in the latest attempt by Washington to intensify pressure on the junta.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the regime has continued to jail dissidents and peaceful activists, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader who has been held under house arrest since 2003.
The junta said it would release Suu Kyi six months before the 2010 election.
McCormack called the referendum a “sham” being held under “a pervasive climate of fear”.
“For the Myanmarese political process to have any legitimacy and any hope of creating conditions for the resolution of the country’s many problems it must be made fully inclusive and open to genuine participation,” he said.