The Chin National Council in exile has rejected the Burmese junta's announcement of the result of the referendum to approve the new constitution.
"We reject the regime's declaration of the result of the referendum as the polling was not free and fair. It doesn't reflect the true desire of Burmese citizens accounting for 57 million," a CNC statement issued on May 17 said.
The Burmese military government announced on May 15 that 92.4 percent of 99.07 percent voters approved the junta' hand picked delegates draft constitution in Burma
The regime held the nationwide polls to approve the constitution on May 10 despite Cyclone Nargis devastating the country' delta regions leaving around 100,000 people dead and 2.5 million homeless, starving and without medical care and shelter.
The CNC added that some areas in Chin state some villagers who were eligible to cast votes were not allowed to exercise their franchise on the day of the referendum held across the country except the cyclone hit areas. Instead, only selected people were allowed to vote 'Yes'.
The regime did not distribute the draft constitution to the people in time and did not give enough times to view the inputs in the document.
"The local authorities who were involved as sub-commission members to monitor the polling stations in some areas converted 'X' marked votes to "Yes" vote, the CNC alleged.
CNC further said in its statement that village council members cast 'Yes' votes on behalf of some villagers while they banned some villagers from voting. The polling was held under a circumstance where the people were forced to cast the ballot in front of soldiers, the police and sub-commission members in an attempt to unnerve the people in the polling booths.
The CNC also urged UN and the international community to reject the poll result and to pressurize the military government to initiate a tripartite dialogue to bring about national reconciliation in Burma.
The regime also plans to continue the next round of referendum in the killer storm affected areas on May 24.
