Myanmar's Suu Kyi votes on proposed charter: official

YANGON (AFP) — Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi cast an advance vote Friday morning in a referendum on a proposed army-backed constitution, a government official said.

Authorities went to the Yangon house where Aung San Suu Kyi has been kept prisoner for most of the last 18 years at 10:45 am (0415 GMT), he said.

"She voted this morning," the official told AFP.

The junta has pressed ahead with a referendum on its much-derided new constitution, despite a cyclone three weeks ago that left more than 133,000 people dead or missing.

Voting took place in most of the country on May 10, and was due to go ahead in cyclone-hit Yangon and the southwest delta on Saturday.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party has urged people to vote against the charter, which pro-democracy activists say will enshrine the military's power in a country it has ruled since 1962.

The junta, which says the new constitution will pave the way for democratic elections in two years, announced that 92.4 percent of voters had approved the charter in the May 10 round of voting, with a 99 percent turnout.

That result was rejected by the NLD as "completely incorrect."

The order confining Aung San Suu Kyi to her home comes up for renewal on Monday, but analysts said its extension has become routine and there was little chance of the 62-year-old Nobel peace prize winner being freed.