Myanmar publishes constitution amendment bill

Myanmar's official media published an amendment bill for the 2008 state constitution on Thursday, signed by President U Thein Sein, amending some key sections of the constitution.

The constitution amendment bill, dealing with the qualification of a president under Section 59(f), submitted to the parliament on Wednesday, deleted the restriction that a presidential candidate's son-in-law or daughter-in-law shall not be a foreign citizen or enjoy the privileges of a foreign government.

However, the section retains the ban on those whose spouse or one of the legitimate children is a foreign citizen and enjoys the privileges of a foreign government, Xinhua news agency reported.

Besides, Section 59(d) has been amended to read that a presidential candidate shall be well acquainted with the affairs of defence instead of military.

Section 436, which originally prescribes that the amendment of several important provisions of key sections shall be agreed upon by more than 75 percent of the MPs with over 50 percent of eligible voters in the referendum, shall be revised as to have the consent of 70 percent of the MPs and over 50 percent of the voters respectively.

Section 60(c), which allows non-parliament representatives to run for president and vice-president, has been amended requiring that the candidate must be a parliament representative.

The 2008 constitution amendment bill is expected to be debated at the ongoing parliament session within days.

The constitution was promulgated in May 2008 to serve as a base for the November 2010 general elections, in which, U Thein Sein, then chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was elected as the country's president for a term of five years which started from March 2011 and will run till 2016.