Over 4 mln Yangon population declared as eligible voters for Myanmar referendum

VOA Thursday, April 24, 2008
YANGON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Over 4 million up-to-age population in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon have been declared as being eligible voters for the country's constitutional referendum slated for May 10, the leading local weekly Myanmar Times reported Thursday.

Yangon has a population of over 6 million out of Myanmar's total which is 56.5 million.

Quoting the Yangon Division Commission for Holding Nationwide Referendum, the report said over 2,500 polling booths are being set up in the division to ensure 100 to 3,000 voters in each polling booth to secretly cast their ballots.


Voting rolls will be announced at least seven days ahead of the referendum day, the commission quoted the already-enacted 2008 Republic of the Union of Myanmar Referendum Law as saying, warning that a person who is entitled to vote shall have the right to vote only once at the referendum.

The polling booths are set to open in the morning at 6:00 a.m. local times and close in late afternoon at 4:00 p.m..

The polling would be conducted in line with the international systems to ensure the referendum be free and fair, the commission added,

For the past week after Myanmar's water festival, all Myanmar state media have been stepping up an information campaign on the forthcoming May 10 constitutional referendum, asking the country's people to cast vote-in-favor to ratify a constitution draft written through the national convention.

Source