Myanmar parliament agrees to form constitution review joint committee

Myanmar's union parliament adopted a proposal to form a 109-member Constitution Review Joint Committee Thursday to make necessary amendment to the 2008 State Constitution. The committee was set up with the deputy speaker of the Union Parliament as chairman and either deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (Lower House) or deputy speaker of the House of Nationalities (Upper House) reserved for vice chairman. The committee members represent proportionally parliament members of both Houses, political parties, military MPs and individuals. The parliament's move is seen as seeking solution to the controversial constitution issue in preparation for the 2015 general election. Myanmar's Lower House agreed in March to a proposal of an MP of the USDP to form a committee comprising multi-party representatives for reviewing the 2008 Constitution and make necessary amendment to it. The proposal, which said the constitution is no longer in line with the present era as reflected by the public, was submitted by Thura U Aye Myint, an MP from the Wetlat Constituency, who is also vice chairman of the USDP. The 194-page 15-chapter Republic of the Union of Myanmar Constitution-2008, drafted in accordance with the detailed basic principles laid down by the National Convention, was promulgated in May 2008 after a nationwide referendum. The constitution reserves 25 percent of the parliamentary seats at three levels for non-elected or directly-nominated MPs from the military in addition to the elected MPs. Under that constitution, a multi-party democracy general election was held in November 2010, in which the USDP won a majority of the parliamentary seats with its then party Chairman U Thein Sein being elected as president of the new civilian government and taking office in March 2011. In 2012, the government amended the party registration law, re- legalizing the opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi who was freed from house arrest on Nov. 13, 2010. The NLD took part in the by-elections on April 1 in the year, winning 43 out of 45 open parliamentary seats, of which 37, including Suu Kyi, with the Lower House.