Nan Khin Aye Oo, the KPP Joint Secretary (2) who presented the paper told KIC News on 2 September that the KPP had submitted the motion because the public wanted to elect chief ministers who could make the authorities aware of their needs and difficulties they are facing.

She said: “The public should know that there are very talented people in their own state. We want the public to have the right to elect such people. We submitted this paper because we want a ‘bottom-up’ approach. The public wants this, we are only submitting what they want.”

The KPP also called for elected state governments to hold legislative, administrative and judiciary power and for them to be responsible for issues relating to the state and resource sharing.

The Mon State Hluttaw (parliament) MP Dr Min Soe Linn, who also attended the peace conference, supported the motion but he also pointed out that for state chief ministers to be publicly elected the 2008 constitution would need to be amended.

U Ko Ni, a high court lawyer, said such a constitutional amendment could not happen without the approval of the Burmese military.

He said to KIC News: “For the approval of the military representatives, the Commander-in-Chief needs to agree to it first. If the Commander-in-Chief doesn’t agree to it, the constitution can’t be amended. So, if the conference decides on something and the military changes its view based on that decision, the election of state ministers would be possible.”

Under the 2008 constitution state and regional chief ministers are chosen by the Burmese president and ratified by parliament.

Seven KPP representatives attended the Union Peace Conference.

The party has one MP and had 117 candidates standing in the 2015 elections.

Reporting by Saw Thein Myint for KIC News
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI