Myanmar’s New Parliament to Convene on Feb. 1
By San Yamin Aung 7 January 2021
YANGON—Myanmar’s newly elected Parliament, the second assembly dominated by the National League for Democracy (NLD), will convene on Feb. 1, the speakers of both chambers of the legislature announced.
The ruling NLD won another landslide election on Nov. 8, winning 396 out of 476 elected seats (83 percent) in the two houses of Parliament, allowing it to form the next government. The main opposition and military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won only 33 seats (around 7 percent). The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy holds 15 seats and 10 other parties (two Rakhine parties, two Kachin parties, and one each representing the Ta’ang, Mon, Pa-O, Kayah, Wa and Zomi) won a total of 32 seats.
According to the 2008 Constitution, the Parliament shall convene a new term within 90 days of the commencement of the general election.
Both the Lower House and Upper House speakers made announcements on Parliament’s Facebook pages that the new Parliament will commence at 10 a.m. on Feb. 1, just one day after the current assembly’s term concludes on Jan. 31. Incoming elected representatives are called to arrive in Naypyitaw no later than Jan. 24.
When the new Parliament meets, the election of the speakers of both chambers will be the first order of business, followed by the election of the Union president and vice presidents and the appointments of new cabinet members.
Despite making accusations in support of claims by its proxy USDP that the election was fraudulent, the military on Dec. 31 released the names of 166 newly appointed military personnel who will take up the one-quarter of seats in the two houses of the Union parliament allocated to it under the Constitution.
The new military appointees, who are constitutionally directly appointed by the commander-in-chief of defense services, include three major generals and 21 brigadier generals, along with other colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors and captains.
More than 90 parties contested the Nov. 8 election, yet only 13 of them secured seats in the two houses of the national-level Parliament.
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