The legitimacy of the Burmese junta’s ongoing constitution drafting national convention has been questioned by the Committee Representing the Peoples’ Parliament. The Committee is an umbrella Burmese opposition group, and members of parliament elected during Burma’s last election in 1990.  

In a press release today the CRPP said, while Burma needs a functional constitution, it requires the participation of members of parliament and representatives of ethnic nationalities. 

“Any constitution drawn up in the absence of such representatives will not be acceptable as a legitimate constitution of Burma,” the joint statement said. 

The ruling junta, with over 1,000 handpicked delegates, is currently into the final session of the more than 14-year old constitution drafting convention in Nyaung Hna Pin camp, in Hmawbe Township, about 25 miles north of Rangoon. 

The junta’s convention convening commission chairman, Lt-Gen Thein Sein, earlier declared that the final session of the convention will be followed by a referendum and general elections as part of the junta’s roadmap to democracy. 

Burma’s last general election was in 1990. However, the current military junta, which assumed power in September 1988, refused to honour the election results, where the detained Burmese democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy won a landslide victory garnering over 80 percent of the parliamentary seats. 

While the junta claims that over 1,000 delegates of the ongoing national convention includes representatives from all walks of life and ethnic nationalities, Burma’s largest opposition political party NLD has boycotted the talks.