Widespread manipulation of votes has been reported throughout Shan State, the biggest state in the Union of Burma, leaving it with no option but to reject the sanctity of the nationwide referendum held on May 10, according to the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), the party that won the 1990 elections in the state.
"As a party and as citizens of the Union, we can never accept or acknowledge any official result that says the charter has been approved by the people," said Sai Lake, the SNLD spokesperson, "because it (the referendum) was not won fair-and-square."
In Kengtung, he maintained, only two ballots papers were given to each household, regardless of the number of its members, to either tick (in support of the draft) or cross (in opposition to the draft), as one wished. The remaining ballot papers were then ticked by the referendum commissioners and put in the ballot box by themselves.
In Lashio, northern Shan State, voters were handed out ballot papers already ticked by the authorities for them (the voters) to cast in the ballot box. In some cases, authorities told voters they could go home as their votes had already been cast.
In Rubyland Mogok, there were allegedly some 900 'No' votes against 700 'Yes' votes, but the authorities settled the problem by ticking 'Yes' for voters who failed to appear. "They even counted ballot papers marked with symbols other then ticks or crosses as Yes votes," he claimed.
The SNLD participated in the junta-organized National Convention held "to lay down constitutional principles" from 1993-1996. It together with the NLD and nine party United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) refused to attend the reconvened National Convention in 2004, saying their call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi was rejected and the authorities failed to clarify how the discussions on the junta-proposed 6 Objectives and 104 Constitutional Principles would be handled. Its leaders Khun Tun Oo, Sai Nyunt Lwin and seven others were detained and sentenced to 75-106 years in prison in 2005. One of them "Math" Myint Than died in May 2006 while serving a 79-year sentence at Sandoway.
