Myanmar election commission appoints more than 300 military MPs to new parliament

Myanmar's Union Election Commission has appointed 366 military-represented parliament members to three levels of the new parliament to take up 25 percent share of seats at each level of the legislative body, according to the commission' s announcement made public Tuesday.

Of the 366 MPs non-elected and directly-nominated by the military, 110 were appointed to the House of Representatives (Lower House), while 56 to the House of Nationalities and 200 to 14 region or state parliaments, the announcement said.

The 110 military MPs, assigned to the House of Representatives, include two major generals, six brigadier-generals and seven colonels, while of the 56 military MPs appointed to the House of Nationalities, include one major-general, five brigadier-generals and four colonels.

The next term of sessions of the House of Representatives and the House of Nationalities of the parliament, produced through Nov. 8 general election 2015, are due to begin on Feb.1.

The current term of the parliament, which was produced through the 2010 general election and ran from 2011, will expire on Jan. 30.

Preparatory work is underway to transfer parliamentary duties to freshers.

Meanwhile, the election-winning opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, is also making inter-party coordination to nominate the president and two vice presidents of the country which is expected to be announced when the new parliament is formed as a follow-up and the new government will take office at the end of March.

Myanmar held a general election to elect representatives in Nov. 8, 2015. In accordance with the election result, the NLD won the absolute majority of the parliamentary seats, which is strong enough for it to form a new government independently under the constitution and has right to nominate the president and two vice presidents.

In the general election, the NLD won 886 parliamentary seats or 77 percent out of a total of 1,150 at three levels of parliament, shared by 255 or 79 percent are in the House of Representatives (Lower House), 135 or 80 percent in the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and 496 or 75.7 percent in the Region or State Parliament as well as 17 ethnic representatives to the Region or State Parliament.

The current ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) takes only 30 seats with the House of Representatives, 12 with the House of Nationalities and 76 with the region or state parliaments totalling 118, accounting for 10 percent of the total.

Of the 1,150 representatives-elect in total, 323 were elected to the House of Representatives (Lower House), 168 to the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and 659 to the Region or State Parliament.

According to the existing 2008 constitution, besides the elected representatives, the military possesses 25 percent of non- elected parliamentary seats in each level of the parliament, directly nominated by the commander-in chief of the defense services.