Nobody could accuse the generals who run Myanmar of making hasty reforms. Their handpicked assembly took 14 years to decide the framework of a new constitution. A self-declared 2003 road-map to democracy has so far proved long on detours and short on direction. So the junta's surprise declaration last week that it would hold a constitutional referendum in May and multi-party elections in 2010 should be cause for cheers. But Myanmar's winding path to democracy is littered with too many false starts for much optimism.
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