Yangon - Myanmar's ruling military junta said Tuesday that a constitutional referendum planned for Saturday would be postponed by two weeks in 47 townships that have been hardest-hit by Cyclone Nargis, which killed an estimated 15,000 people over the weekend.

The referendum on a constitution designed to cement the military's dominant role in Myanmar's politics has been postponed to May 24 in seven townships in the Irrawaddy Division and 40 townships in Yangon, the former capital, state-run radio reports said.

Irrawaddy and Yangon bore the brunt of Nargis, which smashed into Myanmar's central coast late Friday, packing winds of 200 kilometres per hour and leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.

According to the government's latest figures, the cyclone killed close to 15,000 people.

Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said at a press conference in Yangon that the death toll in Bogalay township in the Irrawaddy region was close to 10,000 while the toll on Haing Kyi Island was 975, on Mawlamyaing Island 1,835 and in Laputta township about 1,000.

In Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and its chief commercial hub, the cyclone killed 59 people, the brigadier general said.

Altogether, Kyaw Hsan said the government's latest estimate for the cyclone's victims - as of late Monday - was 14,911 with about 2,000 still listed as missing in the Irrawaddy region and about 500 missing in Yangon.
Critics of the regime have been aghast that it is continuing with plans to hold the referendum Saturday despite the magnitude of the natural disaster, which has left hundreds of thousands homeless and struggling for survival.

"We are asking the international community to pressure the regime to defer the referendum in order to address the devastation caused by the cyclone," said Soe Aung, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area), one of several Thailand-based groups struggling to bring democracy to Myanmar.

The referendum has been criticized as a sham, designed to approve the military-sponsored constitution through intimidation and rigging of the vote.

Sowe Aung, addressing a press conference in Bangkok, said Myanmar's military government, which has now opened its arms to international emergency aid, should concentrate on coping with the disaster rather than on pushing ahead with the referendum.

US first lady Laura Bush, while announcing a 250,000-dollar emergency aid grant to Myanmar on Monday, accused the junta of not adequately warning the population in advance of the cyclone.

"Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path," Bush said, using the country's historical name.

Soe Aung agreed with the assessment.

"As we all know, the military regime was too busy preparing this referendum to push ahead, which is very important for them because it will cement their power forever through the constitution, so they didn't pay the cyclone much attention," he said. (dpa)