Union Parliament Office has turned down the request by 203 lawmakers including the military representatives to call a special meeting of Union parliament with a view to challenging the election results and the UEC.
According to the UEC (Union Election Commission) the incumbent NLD party won a landslide victory winning 258 seats in the House of Representatives (Lower House) and 138 in the House of Nationalities (Upper Houses)
The main proponent of the request for the union parliament to review election complaints is the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) who suffered humiliating defeat at the polls.
The USDP garnered only 26 seats for the House of Representatives (Lower House), 7 for the House of Nationalities (Upper Houses).
After the 2020 election USDP held a press conference to declare their demand “for a free unbiased vote, the election should be re-run in cooperation with the military.”
While the challenge to the election results was bolstered by USDP’s 160 military representatives allies sitting in parliament (one third of seats are reserved for military appointees who are unelected), the NLD still retains an absolute majority.
A total of 203 lawmakers (more than a quarter of the union parliament representatives) who demanded the special meeting are: 36 from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), four from the Arakanese, one from the National United Democratic Party, two independent candidates and 160 military representatives, according to the statement issued by the Tatmadaw True News Information Team on January 11th.
Given that the main reason for calling the special meeting is to collectively find the solution to the election complaints the relevant sections of the 2008 constitution were referred to in rejection of the USDP request.
Section 402 of the Constitution says, the resolutions and functions made by the Union Election Commission on the following matters shall be final and conclusive: (a) election functions; (b) appeals and revisions relating to the resolutions and orders of the election tribunals; and (c) matters taken under the law relating to political party.
Section 11 of the Union Election Commission Law says: The decisions and performances of the Commission relating to the following matters shall be final and conclusive: (a) works relating to election; (b) appeals and revisions relating to the decisions and orders of the election tribunals; (c) performances under the law relating to Political Party.
The Union Parliament Office has sent the Union parliament speaker’s reply letter to U Thaung Aye USDP and his party with Notification No.1/2021, concluding that the Union parliament does not need to call a special meeting of parliament.
Section 82 of the Constitution says, the Speaker of the Union parliament (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) may convene a special session or an emergency session, if necessary.
There are around 20 days left for the tenure of second parliament during the COVID-19 pandemic period. According to the bylaws of parliament, it needs to invite the MPs at least 15 day ahead to call a special meeting.
There are just three days to hold the parliamentary session. According to the Constitution, the first regular sessions of third parliament are to be convened without fail.
The Union Parliament has no plan to call a special meeting as the session is not required, according to the statement by the Union Parliament Office.
