Opponents of Myanmar’s military government declared the country’s 2008 constitution void and put forward an interim replacement charter late Wednesday in a major political challenge to the ruling junta.
The moves, while more symbolic than practical, could help woo the country’s armed ethnic militias to ally themselves with the mass protest movement against the military’s seizure of power in February.
The actions were taken by the CRPH, an underground, self-styled alternative government established by elected lawmakers who were not allowed to take their seats when the military staged the coup and ousted and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the national Parliament, made the announcements on social media.
The 2008 constitution, implemented under army rule, ensured the military maintained its dominance during the country’s decade of progress toward democracy, such as by reserving it a quarter of the seats in Parliament and retaining responsibility for state security. The junta that seized power from the civilian government February 1 cites emergency provisions in the charter as giving its takeover constitutional legitimacy.
The CRPH also presented a Federal Democracy Charter as an interim constitution. It aims to end Myanmar’s long history of military dictatorship as well as meeting the longstanding demands of its myriad ethnic minority groups for greater autonomy in their regions.
The proposals are politically significant because the protest movement against military rule has been seeking an alliance with the ethnic minority armed groups and would like them to form a federal army as a counterweight to the government armed forces.