Myanmar Constitutional Tribunal Judges Resign En Masse

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Yangon - All the judges of Myanmar's Constitutional Tribunal have resigned en masse "of their own accord," after parliament voted to impeach them, state media said Friday.

The resignation of the nine-member bench was approved by President Thein Sein, the New Light of Myanmar reported.

Their resignation followed a vote of 408 out of 429 representatives in the lower house of parliament to impeach the judges for a ruling they made in March that parliamentary commissions were not "Union level," with power over the executive branch.

Thein Sein had asked for the tribunal’s ruling as cabinet members did not want to be obliged to attend every parliamentary commission session that requested their presence, effectively placing the executive body under the legislative one, according to political insiders.

Nobel laureate and democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, who became the leader of a new parliamentary rule of law commission last month,voted in favour of the judges’ impeachment, members of her National League for Democracy party confirmed.

The impeachment motion had been described as the country’s first constitutional crisis since the new nominally elected government of President Thein Sein came to power in March 2011.//DPA

Source: The Nation