Word: referendum
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...junta still plans to hold a referendum on its new constitution on May 10, a move that is expected to legally legitimize military rule. Authorities have even promised to expel cyclone victims sheltering in a school in northern Rangoon so that it can be used as a polling station, claims a Western aid agency. Meanwhile, foreign embassies have received formal invitations to observe the proceedings, "probably to distract us from the lack of a relief effort," observes the Western diplomat...
...committed European, Cowen said his first important task is to ensure that Irish voters ratify the European Union's Lisbon treaty by referendum next month. The treaty, meant to streamline the Union's structures, has to be approved by all 27 E.U. member states to come into force; Ireland is currently the only one among them that will do it by popular rather than parliamentary vote. Polls suggest that the Irish will do so, and with Cowen now leading the campaign, opponents of the treaty may want to brace themselves for a bruising...
...with chilling brutality, spraying live ammunition at the burgundy-robed demonstrators. The official government death toll was 31, although international observers believe the actual figure was far higher. For months after the massacre, soldiers patrolled the streets, flushing out suspected dissidents and crushing small protests against the upcoming constitutional referendum. But shortly after last weekend's storm, the troops appeared to have gone AWOL. One foreign NGO worker who was in Rangoon recalls seeing just one military truck on the streets in the hours after the cyclone. The vehicle drove up to a downed tree blocking the road, paused...
...Politics of Disaster After first announcing that the constitutional referendum would take place as scheduled, the junta did finally decide on May 6 to postpone the plebiscite until May 24 in the hardest-hit townships. Initially a state-run newspaper said there would be no delay because the people of Burma were eagerly looking forward to the chance to vote. But, says Aung Zaw, a Burmese in exile who edits the Thailand-based Irrawaddy newsmagazine, "what the people in Burma are eagerly looking forward to is the military government bringing them food and water and shelter...
...killing tens of thousands and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless in the Irrawaddy River delta and the city of Rangoon, Burmese couldn't help noting the curious timing: exactly a week later, on May 10, the thuggish ruling junta was set to hold a constitutional referendum, a step toward what the military has called a discipline-flourishing democracy. Then the heavens opened and the winds lashed. The gods, it appeared, weren't happy with where Burma's leaders were taking their country...