The announcement broadcast on state-owned radio and television said the junta has enacted a law that covers matters relating to polling such as the preparation of electoral rolls, vote counting and postponement and cancellation of voting.

The announcement also released on Wednesday’s Burmese language New Light of Myanmar newspaper, said the law states that the votes will be counted in the presence of the public, but did not mention having an independent commission to monitor the polling.

A Rangoon based legal expert, who request not to be named in fear of reprisal, said the junta’s law reveals that it is determined to win the support of the people in rubberstamping its constitution.

“An independent monitoring commission is a must to see that the polling is conducted in a free and fair atmosphere,” the legal expert said.

However, the legal expert declined to comment further on the junta’s law and the process of referendum, in fear of punishment by the junta.

In a bid to cover its actions from internal criticism, the junta has enacted several acts including the 5/96 act, which allows the junta to punish those criticizing the junta’s seven-step road map of up to 20 years in prison.

In its latest law on the referendum, the junta said those criticizing, campaigning against, disrupting or attempting, and disturbing the process of polling, would be liable to punishment of up to three years in prison or a fine of Kyat 100,000 or both.

The junta on Tuesday also announced that it has formed a 45-member Referendum Convening Commission, chaired by Supreme Court chief justice Aung Toe, who also served as the chairman for both the constitution drafting commission and the national convention convening commission that supposedly laid the guidelines for the draft constitution.

Thein Nyunt, spokesperson of Burma’s opposition party – National League for Democracy – said the commission members are not high profile figures.

“Even in the referendum for the 1974 constitution under Newin’s rule, the convention, the drafting committee, and the commission overseeing the process of polling were chaired by different people and included some high profile figures,” Thein Nyunt said.

Thein Nyunt said most of the members of the commission were those included in the drafting committee and were delegates to the 14-year long national convention, who largely faced criticism as handpicked men of the junta.

“But we [the NLD] do not want to comment on the details of the law at the moment,” Thein Nyunt said.

The NLD, led by detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi last week said the junta’s unilateral announcement this month of a constitutional referendum and general elections was undemocratic and could bring more instability to the country.

But it did not call for or advocate a boycott or a “no” vote for the draft constitution.

The junta’s referendum law, which has 31 articles in 12 chapters, lists detail plans of how the polling will be conducted. But it fails to state any dates for the referendum to be conducted in May.

The law gives provisions to all citizens, above 18, the right to vote, however, it disqualifies persons suffering from mental illness, foreigners, Burmese nationals who are illegally residing in other countries, criminals and persons charged under existing law, and religious leaders, essentially barring Buddhist monks, Christian pastors, Hindu and Muslim leaders from casting votes.

It also said, Burmese citizens who have gone to foreign countries under legal permission would be allowed to cast their votes.

As a preparation to allow Burmese nationals in Singapore, the Burmese embassy in Singapore said, they have begun collecting the names of Burmese nationals residing in Singapore.

“We have begun collecting the names of Burmese people who are above 18 years of age and have come with official permission here. And once we finish, we will send it to Rangoon. We will finish it before the end of March. And we will wait for the next instruction,” said an embassy official in Singapore, who wished to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

The law also entrusts the referendum convening commission with the power to postpone, cancel and reconduct the polling if the prevailing situation is unsuitable for holding polls, which critics said, is the junta’s twist to allow them to nullify the polling result or have it forged to their desire result.

U Thein Oo, chairman of the Burma Lawyer Council in exile, said, “By declaring that a general election will be held in 2010, without first considering the result of the referendum, it is obvious that the junta in anyway will approved its draft constitution.”

To conduct a free and fair referendum, Thein Oo said, it is necessary to make the public aware of the constitution by explaining the contents of the constitution.

“Based on the results of the referendum, the dates and nature of election has to be decided,” Thein Oo added.

An article in the junta’s mouthpiece newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, on Wednesday, however, said the government in order to make the public aware has published the contents of the constitution through out 2007 in the newspaper.

The article written under a pseudonym, ‘U Pyay Kyaw’ said the government in its New Light of Myanmar newspaper had published the 15 chapters that will be included in the constitution in 2007 and listed the dates and the titles of the chapters that had been published, an apparent declaration that the junta will not make efforts to educate the pubic on the constitution.

(Additional reporting by Htein Linn & Nem Davies)