Activists slam PR system

 

Writer Htin Lin Oo, farmers’ advocate Win Cho and National League for Democracy (NLD) member Ko Ni told a gathering of about 200 people about the weaknesses and strengths of the proportional representation (PR) system, whichwould allow candidates rejected by a majority of voters to still take seats in the Parliament. 

Currently, the candidate who wins the most votes in a constituency takes the seat. A PR system could allow some runners-up to also vote in Parliament.

 “The system is used in countries that have mature democracy,”Ko Ni said. The NLD member also said that it was more common in countries with few ethnic groups and few political parties. “Our country has more than 60 parties. And our country’s democracy is still young,” he added, saying the PR system might confuse citizens who have not experienced real democracy and may not know what it is.

He also noted that an effort is underway to amend Section 436 ofthe Constitution so that it will no longer be necessary to have a quorum of more than 75 per cent of MPs in order to amend the military-drafted charter. The NLD member suggested that the effort to introduce a PR system might be a counter move by the ruling party to the attempt by the NLD, the main opposition party, to amend the charter.

Writer Htin Lin Oo noted that the official line from the government at the time the charter was drafted, in 2008, was that 91.4 per cent of population endorsed it. Most people did not even know what was in it, he added. The same thing is happening with the effort to introduce the PR system, he said.

There are four variants of the PR system:party-list system, mixed member PRsystem, mixed member majoritarian system and the single transferable vote system.

On Friday, NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi said that the system was unconstitutional and would be a stumbling block to national reconciliation. National reconciliation could be achieved only through direct negotiations, not indirect voting, she said. 

“Negotiation is a must for peace and solidarity,” she stressed.

“When they want to protect the Constitution, they defend it by guaranteeing that it was compiled by experts and individuals in favour of the national interest. There is no clause in the charter mentioning the PR system. Military personnel also pointed out that the PR system came onto the table around July 2012, just after by-elections. There was no democracy in the first place when the National Convention drafted the 2008 Constitution.” The NLD won the by-elections in a landslide, allowing Aung San Suu Kyi to take a seat in Parliament. She is, however, barred from becoming president due to a section of the charter that blocks anyone with relatives who hold foreign passports from taking the post. Her sons hold British passports.

She envisaged that the PR system would win approval from over 75 per cent of parliamentarians. A referendum will then be called and at the end the Constitutional Tribunal will need to give the final judgement. 

“At last, the tribunal will be the referee, to tell us how the charter should be changed,” she noted.

 

 

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Activist jailed for insulting govt

Myanmar Eleven

Htin Kyaw, the leader of the Movement for Democracy Current Force, was handed a one-year jail term on Friday for insulting the government.

After nine hearings, the Southern Dagon Myothit Township found him guilty under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code, for distributing anti-government pamphlets in April. In the pamphlets, he said he had no confidence in the Union government.

In an act of public defiance, he laid down in front of the court as soon as he arrived there.  Police were forced to lift him from the pavement and carry him in the courtroom. 

“As soon as Htin Kyaw got out of the car he started to lie down on the ground and shout protest slogans in an act of defiance against the judicial system,” said Nay Myo Zin, an activist who has also been frequently jailed under the reformist government of Thein Sein. “Policemen dragged him into the courtroom,” said Nay Myo Zin, a former military officer who now runs the Social Development Network.

“We felt sorry to see him treated like this. Police said they acted the way they did to prevent further misconduct, but they could have done this in a manner that was more considerate,” he added. 

Htin Kyaw’s latest sentence follows two separate one-year jail terms handed down on July 21 by two other township courts.