Myanmar Elections: A Turning Point for Reform?

The 2015 election will be for 330 seats in the Lower House, 168 seats in the Upper House, and 644 seats in 14 regional assemblies, plus 29 seats reserved for ethnic representatives. In each house, 25% of the seats are reserved for representatives of the military, an arrangement unchanged from the 2010 election, in accordance with the former military regimes constitution adopted in a flawed referendum in May 2008. Proposals to amend this constitution were recently voted down in the parliament in which the government party aligned with the military currently holds a large majority. The possibility of reducing the very visible military presence in the parliament has been discussed quite widely, and is likely to happen after the elections, especially since this arrangement follows the example of Indonesia where a similar requirement was dropped some years ago.