Burmese Leader Seeks Vote on One-Party Rule

President Maung Maung, bowing to massive pro-democracy protests that have paralyzed Burma, Wednesday proposed a national referendum on ending 26 years of military-dominated rule.

Maung Maung announced the referendum in a nationwide address just hours after martial law was revoked and troops were withdrawn from the capital of Rangoon.

“We will not be stubborn any more,” said the beleaguered leader. “We want liberty, peace and civility.”

He said he has asked the ruling party to meet Sept. 12 to consider a referendum on a multiparty democracy and warned that he would resign if the proposal was rejected.

Diplomats said the dramatic shift appeared to be an attempt to calm an unprecedented public challenge to Burma’s 26 years of socialist rule by military leaders.

In the referendum, Burma’s 38 million people would be asked to choose between a one-party system that has reinforced the Southeast Asian nation’s authoritariangovernment, or a two-party system that would address democratic reforms.

Maung Maung said that if a multi-party system were approved, the constitution would be amended and general elections would be held “as soon as possible” to replace the current national legislature, or Peoples Assembly.

He said neither he nor other senior officials, including Cabinet ministers, would run in those elections--another apparent compromise to the opposition’s demand for more civilian leadership.

Former strongman Ne Win had suggested a national referendum last month, but it was rejected by the ruling party, and he stepped down after 26 years of one-party rule instituted after he grabbed power in a 1962 coup.

Military hard-liner Sein Lwin, who took over from Ne Win, lasted only two weeks in the face of bloody protests in which about 1,000 people were killed by the army, according to diplomats.

Maung Maung, a close adviser to Ne Win, was appointed last Friday as the country’s first civilian president in 26 years in an effort to appease the demonstrators.