Desperate to see that the approval for the draft constitution comes through at the referendum, the Burmese military junta in Muse Township in Shan State has ordered the quarter administration and polling booth commission to initiate action against those who disturb the process and are working against it, a source said.

The order was issued at a meeting held in Ho Mong in Muse on April 7. The authorities have said that people trying to disturb the voting shall be sentenced to three years in prison, a participant told KNG.

The polling booth commissions also have to go to the voters who cannot come to vote at the polling booth tomorrow.  If the voters don't cast the "Yes" vote, the commission would also be taken action against by the authorities, the source added.

The authorities have continually forced the residents to call back their relatives who live in foreign countries and vote and threatened that if they don't, they might lose their national identity, the participant added.

According to a resident in Muse Township, ballot papers were distributed among voters but some still have not got it and are still unaware of the place of voting.

On April 2, the authorities tested the residents in Kutkai and Nam Hkam in northern Shan State in a mock voting for the referendum. But the residents cast mostly "No" votes, a resident said.

The Chinese mostly live in quarter no (2) in Kutkai and they have no idea about the constitution so they decided to cast the "No" vote. So, the authorities mobilized them and told them about the constitution at least four times.

In Nam Hkam, five households cast the "No" vote in the mock voting. So, the authorities have fined the residents 100,000 Kyats, the resident added.

Meanwhile, in some quarters in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in northern Burma, the voters received the confirmed voting list that was distributed by the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA). And the authorities have called a meeting of polling booth commission for tomorrow's referendum.