Myanmar's coup leader is considering switching to a military-favored voting system

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

Min Aung Hlaing claims that electoral reform is "essential," praising the use of a type of Proportional Representation in elections held during his military dictatorship.

 

Myanmar's army leader suggested on Monday that the country's voting system, which is now based on a majoritarian basis, may be changed to a type of Proportional Representation (PR).

According to state-run media, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who deposed the country's elected civilian administration in a coup on February 1, made the statements during a meeting with members of his military council in Naypyitaw.

Myanmar now uses First Past the Post (FPTP), a voting system in which the candidate with the most votes wins the parliamentary seat in question, according to the country's military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

 

Min Aung Hlaing stated that the PR system would be "all-inclusive" and would better represent constituents' voices.

“With all participants, the Proportional Representation—PR—system must be considered.
The method members are elected, as well as the electoral system, must be changed.
During the meeting, Min Aung Hlaing stated, "The government will make these amendments by coordinating with everyone."

Monday was not the first time the military council showed support for the system, which critics believe would be tailored to benefit the military rather than to promote diversity, which the army has traditionally sought to suppress.

 

One month after the coup, the chair of the junta-appointed election commission requested feedback from political parties on replacing the current electoral system with one based on proportional representation.
After military-backed parties demanded the adjustment at a meeting boycotted by the country's other major parties, the request was made.

 

In the current political climate, ethnic Rakhine lawmaker Aung Kyaw Zan told Myanmar Now that implementing the PR system would be tough.
He pointed out that PR is not permitted under the 2008 Constitution, which the coup regime continues to follow.
The National Unity Government, which was constituted by elected MPs who were unable to take their places in parliament following the coup, destroyed the charter.

“The Constitution was not written with the PR system in mind, but rather with the FPTP system, which permits the winner to take it all.
After the charter is removed, it is unclear whether the voting system should be altered or replaced,” Aung Kyaw Zan added.

 

“[Any change] should be in line with what the general public desires.
It could only be done when formal political parties representing the public have debated the topic together,” he said, adding that all political parties in the country should be permitted to participate.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a military proxy party, promised during a press conference in Naypyitaw in September 2019 that if it won the majority of seats in the 2020 election, which it did not, it will push for the switch to a PR system in parliament.

 

In 2020, the USDP suffered a catastrophic defeat, winning only 33 seats in total across both legislative chambers.
Even though no local nor foreign observers discovered substantial proof of such claims, the military and its political partners accused the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won by a landslide, of electoral fraud.