A day before Myanmar goes to its fourth parliament polls in three decades, the countryโ€™s all powerful military has warned President U Win Myint with impeachment if he failed to โ€˜properly uphold constitutional responsibilitiesโ€™.

That raised the spectre of a deadlock in the Pagoda Nation even if Aung San Suu Kyiโ€™s ruling National League for Democracy ( NLD) won an expected clear majority.

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Some were not ruling out a military takeover, if Aung San Suu Kyiโ€™s National League for Democracy won too decisive a majority that could enable it push through critical amendments to drastically curb the military control in Myanmar.

Myanmar 1990 parliament polls led to a clean NLD sweep but the military refused to honor the verdict and hung on to power by force.

The 2010 poll was boycotted by NLD on grounds that the military-drafted 2008 Constitution gave too much power to the uniform.

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But though the 2015 polls brought the NLD to power, it failed to bring necessary reforms and efforts to amend the Constitution to reduce the militaryโ€™s powers failed.

The military, locally called Tatmadaw, now fears a huge NLD sweep may help it push through a series of amendments that would drastically curb its powers.

The Tatmadaw fired the first barrage earlier this week by hauling up the Union Election Commission (UEC), for alleged โ€˜ shortcomingsโ€™ and โ€˜wrong measuresโ€™ in the rundown to Sundayโ€™s parliament election.

It also said the NLD government would have to be held accountable for the UECโ€™s mistakes because it was in power.

The military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing told a local media outlet that given the UECโ€™s mishandling of the election, he would be very wary about the election results this time.

On Wednesday, the Myanmar Presidentโ€™s Office rubbished the military for โ€˜inciting instability and causing public concernโ€™ and violating the law and the 2008 Constitution.

Some said the military was trying to influence the poll outcome.

The Presidentโ€™s office also said the UEC was an independent body and was under no legal compulsion to answer to the government.

In a lengthy response on Thursday, the military rejected the Presidentโ€™s Office response.

In a statement, the military said the government was ignoring its responsibility for the UECโ€™s actions, insisting that the President can constitutionally appoint the electoral body members and impeach them.

โ€œSo, saying the government has nothing to do with the UECโ€™s failures is ignoring its responsibilities,โ€ the military statement said.

It went on to say that government officials took oaths under the Constitution to honestly carry out their duties to the best of their abilities.

โ€œIt should be noted that the Constitution [provides for] the impeachment of the President and Vice President if he is deemed disqualified or not performing his responsibilities,โ€ it added.

The military sought legitimacy for its obvious interference in the countryโ€™s โ€œnational politicsโ€, saying it was in accordance with the Constitution, that designates the military as its guardian.

Lawyers said the spat between the military and the NLD government was โ€˜worryingโ€™ and called upon them to work together to correct the UECโ€™s mistakes and reform the agency.

Blaming one another does not benefit anyone, including the people, they argued.

Political analyst Dr. Yan Myo Thein blamed the civil-military tussle on โ€œthe weakness of the charterโ€™s provisionsโ€.

โ€ The Charter needs to have clear definitions. Both sides are interpreting it their own, intensifying the confrontations,โ€ he said.

Yan Myo Thein argued that โ€œit was undeniable that the UECโ€™s actions had not been satisfactoryโ€ in the rundown to the election.

โ€œBut in regards to this, the UEC must act in an accountable and responsible manner. And the union government should investigate the UECโ€™s actions as soon as possible.โ€

The NLD and the Tatmadaw appeared on the same page with the governmentโ€™s handling of the Rohingya crisis and then the spiralling Rakhine insurgency.

But relations began to sour when the NLD brought a series of amendments to curb the military powers. They fell through because the NLD could garner the required 75 percent needed to push through an amendment.

But ever since then, the military has doubted NLDโ€™s intent and worry a huge landslide it might win.

(Subir Bhaumik, a former BBC and Reuters journalist, is now editorial director at www.theeasternlink.com)

Subir Bhaumik is a Kolkata-based senior journalist. He can be reached at: [email protected]