Across the country some 20 seats at the national, state and regional levels are empty due to death or because representatives have been given government appointments, and there is no sign as to when the Union Election Committee, the national body that governs elections in Myanmar, will move to fill those seats by holding by-elections.

“It is the duty of the Union Election Commission to call by-elections when there are vacant seats,” said U Ba Shein, the lower house representative for Kyauk Phyu Township, in Rakhine State, and a member of the Rakhine Nationalities Progressive Party.

“It’s a must to fill the vacant seats with newly elected representatives to do political, social and economic work for the people,” he added. “These constituents have lost their ability to air their grievances in parliament because of a lack of representation.”

U Ba Shein said many local constituents are now demanding that the commission call by-elections to fill the empty deats. “The commission is ignoring the wishes of the people,” he said. “It believes it can delay for as long as its wants, as though the constitution had given it absolute power.”

It is widely believed that if by-elections were held today, the National League for Democracy, or NLD, would sweep the vacant seats. It is also thought that the incumbent Union Solidarity and Development Party fears that result, and is behind the commission’s reluctance to call the by-elections.

Indeed, U Ba Shein suggested that the election commission may be awaiting a green light from the government before calling the by-elections, a circumstance he said was prompting many questions among voters.

In Rakhine alone there are three vacancies: Minbya Township, in northern Rakhine, has no representation in either the upper or lower house, and Gwa Township, the state’s southernmost jurisdiction, has no representative in the lower house.

U Ba Shein pointed out that rather than holding by-elections, the election commission is actually examining how it can recall representatives from Myanmar’s houses of assembly—for example in the event that one is charged in a crime.

The lower house is expected to come to a decision regarding the rules and procedures governing the recall process in January.

Many are speculating that the election commission may try to recall members of the opposition as a way of bolstering the position of the government.

But U Ba Shein suggested that there are rules already on the books governing how an MP convicted of a crime should be treated, saying: “If a representative is found guilty he would not only be recalled but also sentenced to jail, according to the law.”

U Ba Shein complained that it is the absence of rules around the filling of vacant seats that is permitting the election commission to delay the process.

According to the constitution, assemblies must be called at least once a year. However, Myanmar’s houses of assembly are meeting more than that—three or four times a year—and U Ba Shein said the byelections should be held to reflect that ongoing parliamentary work.

In interviews with Mizzima, a number of other representatives shared U Ba Shein’s position on by-elections, namely: U Aye Mauk, the USDP lower house representative from Ma Hlaing, in Mandalay Region; U Khin Maung Yi, the National Democratic Force lower house representative for Ahlone Township in Yangon Region, and Daw Nan Wah Nu, the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party representative from Konhein constituency in Shan State.