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Amendments to political party law approved
Irrawaddy - October 27, 2011
Thein Nyunt, a pro-democracy independent MP who attended the day's parliamentary session in Naypyidaw, told The Irrawaddy that the Lower House or Pyithu Hluttaw approved the bill without objection.
Last week, the Upper House or Amyotha Hluttaw passed a proposal to amend three clauses of the Political Parties Registration Law.
The clause titled "Preservation of the Constitution" will be replaced by "Respect and Obedience of the Constitution." Secondly, the clause in Section 10 of the act which prohibits "anyone convicted by a court of law from joining a political party" will be removed.
The third amendment – arguably the most significant – would scrap the current law that maintains that, to be recognized, each political party must have contested a minimum of three seats in the previous general election.
The amended bill means that a political party will be recognized as long as it has contested at least three constituencies in by-elections, 50 of which are scheduled for November.
NLD spokesman Ohn Kyaing said that the party has closely watched the process in Parliament, and will soon sit to decide whether the party will register. "The NLD leadership will discuss it and decide," he said.
In recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Suu Kyi suggested the government is close to meeting her conditions to officially register her political organization. She did not rule out the possibility of running for office in a national vote expected in 2015.
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