March 25, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 21, 1424

MOSCOW, March 24: Chechen separatist rebels said Monday that a vote which adopted a new pro-Russian constitution for their breakway republic was a “political farce” whose results had been manipulated by Russian authorities.

In a statement on rebel website kavkazcenter.com, the separatists said that the overwhelming majority of Chechens had refused to vote and many had attacked polling booths to protest the referendum.

“In dozens of Chechen villages, polling booths were destroyed by armed Chechen forces or by the local population,” the rebels said, calling the vote “a complete failure.”

Russian and Chechen officials said they had registered no violent incidents.—AFP