By Col R Hariharan (Retd.)
INTRODUCTION
Myanmar’s newly elected parliament under the 2008 Constitution had its first session on January 31, 2011. In the political history of Myanmar, it marks a new milestone; however, its impact on Myanmar’s quest for democracy remains an open question. Despite the limitations in transferring political power to peoples’ representatives imposed by the 2008 Constitution, a new element – limited civilian rule - has now been introduced after continuous military dictatorship for 22 years.
The 2008 Constitution has a lot of democratic veneer. There is bicameral Union Assembly (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) consisting of the 440-member lower house - ‘House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw)’ and the 224-member upper house - ‘House of Nationalities (Amyotha Hluttaw).’ All the 14 regions or states have their own assemblies. Despite this the constitution designed by the ruling junta can hardly be called a democratic one in its present form. Only 330 of the 440-seat lower house are filled by elected civilian members; similarly only 168 out of 224 seats of upper house will be filled by civilians. Military officials would be occupying the rest (25 percent) of the seats.
