Myanmar's parliament agrees on increased power-sharing

Myanmar's parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of some sub-sections of the constitution amendment bill agreeing to increase power to the regional or state-level administrations.

The sub-sections under Section 436(b) deal with power-sharing between the central government and regional or state governments.

The secret voting came after a debate as a follow-up was held on other sections of the amendment on June 25, Xinhua news agency.

The sub-sections deal with power sharing of executive, taxation and resources.

One particular section proposed to be amended for appointing chief ministers of regions or states by the parliament failed to win 75-percent vote for approval, retaining that the region or state chief ministers would be appointed by the president without change under the existing constitution.

Amendment bills for the rest of the sections were not passed.

On June 25, Myanmar's parliament vetoed almost all six sections of the amendment bill save one from the 2008 constitution. The only one section, for which the vote was in favour, is Section 59(d) dealing with the qualification of a presidential candidate.

Other amendment bills, submitted by the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), for the remaining five Sections -- 59 (f), 436(a), 436 (b), 60 (c) and 418 (b) -- were turned down as the number of voters was less than 75 percent, the percentage required to pass a bill.