In a strong statement yesterday on the referendum, the National League for Democracy (NLD) said the regime had drafted the Constitution without consulting key representatives of the people.

'The one-sided text of the authorities can not only harm the national reconciliation process but also cannot be accepted by the people,' it said.

The junta says public approval of the Constitution will clear the way for multiparty elections in 2010. If held, the polls would be the first since Ms Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory in the 1990 elections.

The junta had ignored the result and kept the Nobel peace prize winner under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

The NLD said most of the winners of the 1990 parliamentary elections had no say in the drafting of the Constitution. It also pointed to a conflict of interest for the regime, which has included many of the constitutional drafters on the new commission set up to oversee the referendum.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Aung Toe headed the panel that drafted the charter, and also heads the commission which organises the vote to approve it, the party said.

'That was against the advice and demands of international organisations, including the United Nations. All responsible persons should be included in the process of drafting the state Constitution and the transformation of the nation,' the NLD said.

The junta has not set an exact date for the referendum or released the final text of the document.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a regional gathering in Singapore last week that the Constitution would bar Ms Suu Kyi from running because her late husband, British academic Michael Aris, was a foreigner.

A law enacted on Tuesday threatens three years in prison for anyone who gives speeches or distributes leaflets about the referendum.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE