Burma sets date for popular votes
Burma will hold a constitutional referendum in May followed by general elections in 2010, the country's military junta has said.
The regime had set out what it called a roadmap for democracy but had not previously given any firm timetable.
It made the announcement in a statement on state television and radio.
Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The country saw rare nationwide protests against the ruling junta in August and September.
Saturday's announcement said that "multi-party democratic elections will be held in 2010, according to the new constitution.
"It is suitable to change the military administration to a democratic, civil administrative system, as good fundamentals have been established," the regime said.
"The country's basic infrastructure has been built, although there is still more to do in striving for the welfare of the nation."
Burma held a multi-party election in 1990 that was won by the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military ignored the result and Ms Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest in Burma's commercial capital, Rangoon.
Instead, the military formed a convention in 1993 that spent the next 14 years laying out the guidelines for a new constitution.
Saturday's statement said the constitution would be finished soon.
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posted by 08A10 at
11:39 PM
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