The constitution of Myanmar: a contextual analysis

Abstract

On 8 November 2020 the Myanmar (Burma) electorate once again returned to the polls, with many queuing from the early hours to participate in the third set of nationwide elections since the establishment of the 2008 constitution. Expected results at the time of writing indicate another landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), a party made up of ex-political prisoners and pro-democracy activists. Nevertheless, there has been increasing scepticism about the success of Myanmar's regime transition from military dictatorship to democracy. The continuing ethnic violence in many of the borderlands, including but not limited to the persecution of the Rohingya, would appear to overshadow supposed institutional and electoral progress in the past twelve years. Yet as this book by Melissa Crouch details, the answer to the success of Myanmar's transition and democratic potential lies not in its electoral process but within its constitution. In 2008, Myanmar held a referendum on the newly drafted constitution which passed with overwhelming success despite the vote being held days after Cyclone Nargis devastated much of the central lowlands. The decision to go ahead and the result exemplified the gap between what was democratic transition on the surface and the realities of the environment in which it was occurring. As the first part of the book outlines, both the oversight and participation of the military in the drafting and securing of the 2008 constitution have not only undermined but completely restricted the process. Though the language of democracy may be used when discussing Myanmar, this detailed analysis of the constitution and of the first two elections held under its aegis in 2010 and 2015 paint a very different picture.