The ruling junta on late Tuesday announced that its 54 member committee has completed drafting the constitution, which will be put to a referendum in May. Earlier, on February 9, the junta announced that it will hold a referendum in May and a general election in 2010.

Nyan Win, spokesperson for the NLD said, “If the referendum is to be free and fair, the draft constitution should be made public for review. Besides, the authorities should explain the essence of the constitution to the people.”

“For the forthcoming referendum in May it is important that the authorities should provide briefings on the constitution so the people will know about the draft. Without having knowledge about the constitution it is meaningless,” Nyan Win added.

Burma’s state-owned newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, today said the constitution drafting committee included “those who are well-experienced persons who went through the previous two constitutions of Myanmar, and some members who are well-versed in local and international law.”

However critics, including the NLD, said the 54 member committee was handpicked by the junta, just as it had handpicked over 1,000 delegates for its 14-year long National Convention, where it established the guidelines for the draft constitution.

According to the 104 basic principles of the constitution, at least 25 percent of the seats in all government bodies are to be reserved for the military. Critics argue it is to legitimize the role of the military in the constitution.

Meanwhile the junta’s Foreign Minister, Nyan Win, on Tuesday told leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member, that detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to contest elections in 2010.

Nyan Win said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from standing for election as she lost her essence of nationality after marrying British Professor Michael Aris.

But her party spokesperson, Nyan Win, said, “There is so far no law that bars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the election as there is so far no election commission.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma’s Independence father General Aung San, returned to Burma in 1988 and catapulted to become the peoples’ leader after being involved in the 1988 student-led uprising.

Since then she has been kept under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years, solely for leading the opposition movement.