
Military MPs blocked NLD efforts to wrest some control over decision making on national security and defence from the military on Monday, the fifth day of marathon voting on more than 100 proposed changes to the country’s military-drafted constitution.
Articles 115b and 147b of the current constitution require that any parliamentary examination of the military or of national defence and security be done by ad hoc committees composed mostly of military MPs.
Two NLD proposals to abolish the articles received 63% of votes – shy of the 75% vote threshold any constitutional amendment must exceed.
It’s the latest NLD attempt at limiting the military’s political power that the unelected bloc of MPs has killed.
Military MPs by constitutional mandate occupy 25% of parliamentary seats, assuring them veto power. They have so far rejected nearly every NLD proposal to amend the constitution.
The military on Monday also voted down two NLD bills repealing a requirement that the first day of each parliamentary session in regional parliaments and in the lower house be convened by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) – the military government that was dissolved in 2011 by Than Shwe.
“I was astonished. They won’t even agree to repeal a mandate about an organisation that no longer exists,” said Myat Nyarna Soe, an NLD lawmaker and the secretary of the charter amendment committee. “I have no words.”
Brigadier general Maung Maung, a spokesperson for the bloc of military MPs, insisted the repeal would “put the legitimacy of the constitution in question.”
The bills also received 63% of the vote.
Parliament on Tuesday voted down a military proposal to extend article 59f – which bars anyone whose spouse or children are foreign citizens from becoming president – to cover Union-level ministers and chief ministers as well. The bill received just over 34% of the vote.
The article is largely seen as written to prevent NLD leader and state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president. The military blocked an NLD proposal to repeal it last week.
Parliament has so far voted on 88 of 135 proposed amendments. The only two to pass so far changed language referencing people with disabilities.
Also on Tuesday a proposal by the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party to move appointment powers over regional chief ministers from the president to local legislatures failed with just over 36% of the vote.
Voting on the remaining 47 proposals resumes on Wednesday and will conclude by Friday.
(Writing by Tin Htet Paing)