Parliament formed the ‘study committee’ on July 18 with 109 members, the names of whom were distributed in both the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament. Of the 109, more than 40 will be military representatives while more than 50 are USDP MPs.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has been informed that only seven of its MPs will be sitting on the committee, according to NLD Upper House MP Aung Kyi Nyunt, speaking to Mizzima. The remaining members will be made up of lawmakers from smaller parties and independent MPs, he said.

Speaking to Mizzima, he said, “The committee’s mandate is just to study the constitution for possible amendments. It does not have much power or authority. I don’t know yet to what degree our recommendations will be accepted.”

The Union Assembly (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) speaker announced that the committee may ask for suggestions from anyone from the government to ordinary citizens.

The Deputy Speaker of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw will act as Chairman of the committee while the Deputy Speakers of the Lower House and Upper House will serve as Vice-chairmen, the announcement said.

The committee members must first draft collectively the terms of references, the rights of the members, procedures, and the duration of the committee, which then needs to be endorsed by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.

The motion for forming the committee was raised by Lower House MP Thura Aye Myint on March 20.