"If you are patriotic and you love your nation, you must give an affirmative vote," state-run television told Burmese citizens a few days before the 10 May referendum, in which Burmese citizens voted on whether to adopt a draft new constitution. Such appeals were supported by performances by popular singers and other celebrities, chanting slogans such as "This is the responsibility of every citizen, so go to the polling booth and approve the constitution!"
Undaunted by the scale of the damage caused by Cyclone Nargis – which just a week earlier had killed some 80,000 people, and rendered homeless more than two million – and against calls by the United Nations, the regime went ahead with the referendum, which had only been announced in February. In such an atmosphere, even in the state of extreme shock, voters across the country were forced to go to polling stations. Only in a handful of the hardest-hit areas, including parts of Rangoon, were polls postponed for two weeks.
Not only was this fixation on going forward with the vote largely inexplicable, it was downright detrimental. "The relief efforts are being hampered by the junta's obsession with getting the referendum vote over and done with," said a Western diplomat based in Rangoon, on condition of anonymity. "The government's attitude is that the referendum is the top priority, and the cyclone is an inconvenience. We believe any government's priority should be the humanitarian response." A second Western diplomat in Rangoon called the referendum the "final act of a tragic farce. While millions struggle to survive, the generals forced people to vote for a constitution that few had seen and even fewer supported. Then they had the audacity to ensure that virtually everyone cast their ballot in favour."
Only in Burma would the government proceed with a sham democratic exercise against the backdrop of one of the worst disasters of the current generation. Indeed, by late May UN officials were warning that the aftermath of the cyclone was shaping up to be a worse humanitarian crisis then even the 2004 tsunami, the effect of which had been spread across several countries.