Cash rewards for referendum commissioners

^{By Hseng Khio Fah}

On June 2 members of Namkham Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) including Chairman U Tin Hlaing and Secretary Myo Thu at TPDC office granted cash to every member of local referendum commissioners and staff for their work and the cost of building polling booths, a source said.

Namkham has been the township where the regime had suffered defeat. Tin Hlaing had said that at the event of defeat, he would also be punished. “He must have been spared in the end,” said a source, “after juggling the result of the poll.”

Each commissioner received Kyat 3,000 (US$ 2.2) and polling station staff was given 1,000 Kyat (US$ 0.7) . The authorities paid Kyat 3,000 (US$ 2.2) for the expense of building each polling booth. Every person who received money had to sign, according to the source.

 “Actually, it cost us at least Kyat 80,000 (US$ 59.2) for one polling station. They [authorities] just paid back Kyat 3,000 (US$ 2.2).  We used the village’s fund for building polling stations,” said a local.

A government source says each of the 45 members of the Convening Commission of nationwide referendum was also given a house and a car. Three of them are from eastern Shan State.

The junta on May 30 announced that the draft constitution had been approved by 92.48 per cent of voters in referendums held on May 10 and 24, where the total turnout was 98.12 percent.