Myanmar’s transition to representative democracy reaches another milestone on Feb. 1: A new parliament begins work with a majority of its members for the first time belonging to the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Priscilla Clapp, a former American diplomat in Myanmar and U.S. Institute of Peace specialist on the country, discusses the next steps and the likely effect of the change on Myanmar’s political, economic and societal transformation.
The NLD won its majority in largely peaceful elections on Nov. 8, replacing a legislative body that has been dominated by the military-inspired Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Aung San Suu Kyi, released from detention in 2010, first joined the parliament in 2012, when her NLD party took 43 seats. Despite the overwhelming NLD majority now, the constitution requires that uniformed military officers retain 25 percent of the seats.
The new parliament will have to select a new president and two vice presidents by March 31 when the current chief executive, Thein Sein, steps down. Under what Suu Kyi believes is a constitutional provision drafted specifically to target her, she’s ineligible for the presidency because no one with children owing allegiance to a foreign government can hold the highest office, and her sons are British citizens. (Courtesy of usip.org)
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