Lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD) of Myanmar have suggested abolishing or amending constitutional provisions enshrining the power of the country’s military in politics.
This was stated according to a report released this week by the committee tasked with proposing democratic changes to the 11-year-old charter.
Committee legislators from the NLD have proposed getting rid of Article 20 authorizing the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to oversee the country’s security and defence institutions.
The legislation also entitles to gradually phase out the quarter of national and regional parliamentary seats automatically reserved for military officer under another article, legislators said.
NLD members of parliament also suggested changing Article 436 so that the support of only two-thirds of elected lawmakers would be necessary to approve constitutional changes instead of the current 75 per cent plus requirement.
This effectively allows the military bloc to reject amendments with their built in numerical advantage.
Aung San Suu Kyi led NLD, which has tried compromise with the military for much of its tenure in power, finally began to push for constitutional reforms earlier this year.
The military lawmakers opposed the process but cp mot checkmate formation of the parliamentary committee to propose constitutional reforms.
