Myanmar publishes constitution amendment bill

Myanmar official media published an amendment bill for the 2008 state constitution on Thursday, signed by President U Thein Sein, amending some key sections of the constitution.

The constitution amendment bill, dealing with the qualification of a president under Section 59(f), submitted to the parliament Wednesday, deleted the restriction that a presidential candidate, whose son-in-law or daughter-in-law shall not be a foreign citizen or enjoy the privileges of a foreign government.

However, the section retains the ban on those whose spouse or one of the legitimate children is a foreign citizen and enjoy the privileges of a foreign government.

Besides, the section 59(d) is amended that a presidential candidate shall be well acquainted with the affairs of defense instead of military.

The section 436, which originally prescribes that the amendment of several important provisions of key sections shall be agreed by more than 75 percent of the MPs with over 50 percent of eligible voters in the referendum, shall be revised as to possess the consent of 70 percent of the MPs and over 50 percent of the voters respectively.

The section 60(c), which allows non-parliament representatives to run for president and vice-president, is revised as must be a parliament representative.

The 2008 constitution amendment bill is expected to be debated at the ongoing parliament session within days.

The constitution was promulgated in May 2008 to serve as a base for November 2010 general election, in which, U Thein Sein, then Chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was elected as the country's president for a term of five years which started from March 2011 and is running till 2016. Endi