WASHINGTON - A US government spokesperson on Monday dismissed the constitutional referendum held in Syria as "absolutely cynical."

"We dismiss it as absolutely cynical," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland at a regular briefing.

Her remarks came after Syrian government announced earlier the day that more than 89 percent of eligible voters supported the new charter.

"Essentially what he's done here is put a piece of paper that he controls to a vote that he controls so that he can try to maintain control," said Nuland, referring to the embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

She noted that with "the guns and the tanks and the artillery" still firing into Homs, Hama and other Syrian cities, "there's no way to evaluate whether the vote that happened represented anything like a referendum."

The new constitution in Syria gives a limit of two seven-year terms to a president, which means that President Bashar al-Assad will end his two seven-year terms in 2014 at the latest.

The new charter also allows Syrian citizens to enjoy more freedom, end the monopoly of power of Assad's Baath Party and set a timetable for multi-party elections.

Syria's opposition boycotted the referendum, dismissing it as "unreal and totally fabricated."