Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party said Wednesday that it expects to double to 10 million the number of signatures it has collected in its petition campaign to amend the country’s constitution.
The NLD had early this week counted five million signatures from its May 27-July 19 campaign for the removal of a military veto over constitutional change and it is still tallying results from all of the party’s regional branches covering seven states and seven regions across the nation.
“We’re still counting the signatures and can’t say the exact number yet, but it could be at least 10 million,” NLD spokesperson Nyan Win told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
The party will release its final tally on July 26.
Reuters news agency reported Tuesday that the NLD had gathered five million signatures in support of changing Myanmar’s constitution.
The petition, organized jointly by the NLD and the 88 Generation students group, calls for amendments to Article 436 of the charter, which allows effective veto power by Myanmar’s military over proposed constitutional changes.
Under Article 436, charter reform can take place only with the support of 75 percent of lawmakers, and the constitution—written in 2008 under Myanmar’s former military junta regime—reserves 25 of the seats in the country’s parliament for military members who are appointed without election.
Aung San Suu Kyi has said that getting rid of the military’s veto is the first step needed to pave the way for other amendments.
The NLD is also calling for amendments to Article 59(F), which prohibits Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president because her two sons are not citizens of Myanmar, and other clauses it deems undemocratic in the constitution.
But the ruling United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is largely comprised of former junta generals, has been slow to accept reforms to the charter, and the military is reluctant to give up its political privileges.
First report
Meanwhile, a committee tasked with reviewing proposed constitutional amendments on Wednesday submitted its initial findings to parliament in its first report since being formed in February.
NLD lawmaker Aung Kyi Nyunt, a member of the Parliamentary Joint Review Committee, told RFA that the report summarized the body’s analysis over 30 meetings of nearly half of the constitution’s 15 chapters, including Chapter 12, which contains Article 436.
“We have discussed 340 articles from seven chapters,” he said.
“The report has been carried out with public transparency, but we can’t yet disclose which articles [we recommend amending] or how they should be amended.”
In May, the committee had agreed to change the required support for amending the constitution in Article 436 to two-thirds of lawmakers and submitted its recommendation to parliament.
Aung Kyi Nyunt added that the report also included recommendations for Article 59(F), which he said had proved controversial to the committee members, comprised of 14 representatives from the USDP, seven from the military, two from the NLD and one representative of each ethnic party in parliament.
“The committee members had disagreements during our discussions and we voted on them, but the committee is not the one that can decide which articles to amend and how to amend them—only the Union Parliament can do so,” he said.
“We decided to take notes on our disagreements during the discussions and submit them to parliament as well. After we get a decision from the Union Parliament on how to proceed, a draft of the constitution will be written.”
Aung Kyi Nyunt said that the committee feels confident it can complete a new draft of the charter “by December,” ahead of elections scheduled for next year.
Aye Maunk, a Lower House lawmaker from the USDP, and the secretary of the Parliamentary Joint Review Committee, said that Wednesday’s report was based on suggestions for amendments from political parties, military groups, and various other organizations, as well as members of the public.
Reported by Nayrein Kyaw, Win Naung Toe and Kyaw Thu for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.