National government
Parliament
Ethnic MPs get ready to take on the majority
Even though Myanmar’s NLD controls both houses of parliament, ethnic minority MPs are ready to take on the majority to improve ethnic rights. The representative of the Zomi Congress for Democracy, which won two upper house and two lower house seats, said that even with a small ...
Committee to announce March election candidates
Laos’ National Election Committee will soon announce the list of candidates standing to be potential members of the National Assembly (NA) and Provincial Assemblies (PAs) on 20 March. Committee Member and President of the NA’s Law Committee Prof. Dr Davone Vangvichit told Vientiane Times on 3 February that ...
Parliamentary sketchbook: the NLD takes their seats
It had been a long wait: Almost three months since the election that swept Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy to victory, but also decades of being kept on the sidelines by military control. Finally on 1 February, Myanmar’s NLD MPs took ...
USDP majority parliament passes trimmed budget for next government
Parliament has passed the K23.62 trillion (US$18.28 billion) budget for the 2016-17 financial year starting in March. In effect, this means that defeated members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party government have bequeathed spending patterns and constraints to the incoming government elected last November. Review committees ...
Cases to be opened over election campaign expenses
Legal cases will be opened against 175 candidates in the November 2015 general election for failing to submit their campaign expenses on time, according to the Union Election Commission. “The election tribunal will start hearing those cases on 21 January in Nay Pyi Taw,” said U ...
Lack of ethnic party MPs ‘serious weakness’ in parliament
During the 8 November election, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide, crushing the army-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and surprising many by also winning big in ethnic minority-dominated areas where ethnic political parties had expected ...
Transition teams kick off months-long dialogue
Transition committees set up to ensure a smooth handover of power are to meet four times a week until March, a senior National League for Democracy member said on 16 December. The government and NLD both formed eight-member teams on December 10 to coordinate the transition ...
Local budget management causes National Assembly concern
The responsibilities of provincial assemblies in approving budget plans and granting rights to provincial administrations to use money they have collected in excess of the target plan has raised concerns among some National Assembly members. The concerns were raised by National Assembly members on 16 December when ...
Law amended to improve government performance
The amended Law on Government, which was passed by the National Assembly (NA) on 15 December, aims to improve the government’s performance through more transparent and frugal practices. Amendments to Article 4 on the performance principles to be followed by government stipulate that its performance or ...
Activist groups look to next government to solve human rights abuses
Activists marked International Human Rights Day on 10 December by setting an agenda for the next government. Land rights topped the list in an online poll for rights and business priority issues conducted by the Institute for Human Rights and Business, a co-founder of the Myanmar Centre ...
