He told Mizzima on June 16 that a proposal backing a change to proportional representation had been sent to the office of the Pyithu Hluttaw earlier this month and would be tabled for debate in the lower house by the party's U Aung Zin, who represents Yangon Region's Pazundaung Township.

"If the proposal wins a majority of support in Pyithu Hluttaw, we will forward a report to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw," said U Khin Maung Swe.

The opposition National League for Democracy opposed proportional representation and would choose MPS who can argue effectively against the proposal when it is debated, the party's Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Ottara Thiri Township in Mandalay Region, U Min Thu, said on June 16.

The National Brotherhood Federation, which represents a coalition of ethnic minority parties and recently helped to form the Federal Union Party, strongly rejected any change in the electoral system in a statement released on June 16.

A parliamentary representative of the unelected military bloc, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said its MPs supported the move to debate the issue but that whether they would vote for or against "was another matter".

On June 9, the NDF proposed the introduction of proportional representation in a resolution tabled in the Amyotha Hluttaw which passed with the support of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, despite the combined efforts of the NLD, military and some ethnic minority parties to vote down the move.

The chair of the Union Election Commission, U Tin Aye, told political parties at a meeting in Nay Pyi Taw in April 2013 that it would not be possible to make any change to the electoral system until 2016.