(Courtesy CCTV) — Myanmar’s parliament voted against several constitutional amendments on Thursday, preserving the armed forces’ powerful political role in the nation and barring opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s chance from seeking the presidency.
After a 3-day debate, five out of six sections of the amendment bill were voted down. One of the proposals aimed to trim the share of ballots required to amend the constitution from over 75 percent to 70 percent, a change that would essentially remove the veto power.
This proposal received the approval of a majority of parliament members but failed to gain the 75 percent votes needed to pass.
“Our party supports the proposal to drop the votes needed for the constitutional amendment to 70 percent, because otherwise we will be farther away from a successful constitutional reform,” said U Kyaw Myint, MP from the National League for Democracy.
However, many military MPs refused to loosen its grip on parliament or amend the junta-era constitution, which ensures the military’s continuing influence in government. It gives the military a mandatory 25 percent of parliamentary seats, giving it the veto power over any change in the constitution, which requires greater than 75 percent approval.
“We think it is inappropriate to amend the Section 436(a) and (b) for now. Myanmar’s democracy situation is not stable currently, and the level of democracy is immature. It is inappropriate to amend these clauses at the current time,” said U Shan Tin Aung, a military MP.
The only one section that was favored in the vote is the one dealing with the qualification of a presidential candidate. The proposed amendment bars anyone whose children are loyal to foreign countries from becoming president or vice president. The decision means that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not be eligible to seek presidency this year because her two sons are British citizens.
The voting was done by 583 members of parliament out of 633 through a secret ballot system.
Discussions on other sections of the amendment bill for the 2008 constitution will continue later, according to the parliament.
The constitution was promulgated in May 2008 to serve as a base for the November 2010 general election. The present term of the government which started from March 2011 will end in March 2016. (Report courtesy China Central Television)
