Government in Myanmar

  • Suu Kyi’s challenge is to share, not wield power

    MYANMAR, 2016/08/25 Yangon is suddenly a city of phablets. Nowhere in Asia, let alone Europe, have I seen so a lot of supersized smartphones in public spaces and with such egalitarian appeal: Pavement vendors selling early 20th century British guides to English grammar seem as transfixed by them as Yangon’s smart set playing Pokemon Go. For a lot of in an isolated country, a 4G smartphone is their initial taste of modern consumer luxury. Its proliferation, in a country where a SIM card once cost additional than $2,000 (Dh7,356), seems an example of “leapfrog development”, in which, economically backward nations take quick shortcuts to modernisation and urbanisation.

  • Myanmar to receive post-ballot boost

    MYANMAR, 2015/12/27 The victory of pro-democracy opposition groups in Myanmar’s general election on November 8 is expected to bring renewed investor confidence, as the country continues to pursue an schedule of economic liberalisation. While the National League for Democracy (NLD), which led the opposition’s successful challenge, has pledged to continue the reforms begun under the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the new government will likely face new domestic and external headwinds upon taking office in March 2016. Favourable response Ahead of the election, the IMF said that Myanmar could see an upside amaze if its election outcome was well received, resulting in higher-than-expected foreign direct investment inflows. Strengthening regulatory oversight for the financial sector, broadening the tax base and reining in the fiscal deficit, together with other reforms, would as well be key for improving investor confidence, the IMF added.

  • Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi

    MYANMAR, 2015/12/02 Realism and pessimism have somewhat similar meanings in Myanmar. An optimistic interpretation of the 08 November 2015 parliamentary elections in the country is that of a step forward towards a full-fledged democracy. To a realist, however, the election was a landmark event but one that does not essentially constitute a turning point in history. The election results, in fact, reinforced what was always known – the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) popularity and the military’s position as an illegitimate usurper of power. While the NLD’s popularity got translated into votes, the reality is that the unpopular military, which has appropriated a minority from presently on crucial position in the parliament, will remain the power centre, shaping the contents and pace of reforms. However, even with these limitations, the evolution towards democracy would actually depend on whether the NLD views itself as an inconsequential majority or a crucial bloc that can indeed transform the popular support it enjoys into becoming an agent for change.

  • Suu Kyi's party wins historic majority in Myanmar polls

    MYANMAR, 2015/11/15 Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party on Friday secured a historic majority in Myanmar's parliament, making it possible for them to form the Southeast Asian country's initial truly civilian government in additional than half-a-century. With the tally still being counted, the Election Commission said that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 21 additional seats — pushing it over the threshold of 329 seats needed for a majority in the 664-member, two-home Parliament. The party with a combined parliamentary majority is able to select the next president, who can again name a Cabinet and form a new government.

  • Myanmar awaits results of landmark election

    MYANMAR, 2015/11/09 People in Myanmar are awaiting the results of the initial openly contested national election in 25 years. Votes are still being counted, and officials say preliminary results are presently not expected until later on Monday. But Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) is widely expected to make sweeping gains, ending decades of military control. The military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) has been in power since 2011. In one of the earliest and most significant known results, the ruling party's Shwe Mann, who is speaker of the lower home of parliament, conceded defeat in his constituency to the NLD candidate. Tens of thousands of officials and volunteers have been counting the votes, initial in each of the 50,000 polling stations, again tallying them in constituency offices of the Election Commission.

  • Myanmar’s ongoing democratic transformation,

    MYANMAR, 2013/07/20 There is no one template for democratic change. Myanmar’s ongoing democratic transformation, for example, has been driven by a dizzying number of factors: internal forces in the military, democratic activism, domestic struggle and both soft pressure and hard sanctions from nations abroad. Questions about the motivation and ambition of the country’s top leaders have dogged analysts since a clearly rigged general election in November 2010 was followed by the release from home arrest of pro-democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi and the gradual unravelling of military policy.

  • United States and European Union to lift sanctions against his government

    MYANMAR, 2012/06/18 He believes her election and the presence of a strong NLD opposition will strengthen Burma's parliament, bring reconciliation to the country and help persuade the United States and European Union to lift sanctions against his government. In an interview on the eve of the election, President Thein Sein's leading adviser Nay Zin Latt told The Sunday Telegraph it was "significant" that the Nobel laureate who has spent the best part of two decades under home arrest becomes an effective opposition leader in the parliament.
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