At the apex of the executive branch of government is the National Defence and
Security Council (NDSC). The NDSC comprises the president; vice-presidents;
speakers of both houses, ministers of home affairs, foreign affairs, defence and
border affairs; and the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the
Burma Defence Services.^34 As can be seen, all these key ministerial portfolios are to
be occupied by serving members of the armed forces.
Judicial branch
The president appoints and the Pyidauangsu Hluttaw (joint Houses of Legislature)
approve the chief justice and six other judges of the Supreme Court. There are also
courts in the states, regions and self-administered zones, and district courts and other
courts. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court does not cover and does not affect the
powers of the separate Constitutional Tribunal and the courts-martial. Burma,
which theoretically abandoned its socialist state ideology, now claims, through its
2008 constitution, to appoint judges on the basis of merit rather than ideology.
35
However, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw appoints judges upon the recommendation of
the president and the speakers of the Pyithu Hluttaw and the Amyotha Hluttaw.
Judges are expected to be at least fifty years of age, and are expected either to have
held office as a judge of the High Court for at least five years, to have been a judicial
or legal officer for at least ten years, to have practised as an advocate for at least
twenty years, or to be, in the opinion of the president, an ‘eminent jurist’.
36
Given
the illiberal, military-dominated regime in Burma, appointments to the Supreme
Court are most likely politicised.
The 2010 elections
On 7 November 2010 , more than twenty years after the last multiparty elections in
1990 , Burmese once again went to the polls.^37 Touted by the SPDC as a major
turning point in the return of power to the people, these elections proved even
(^34) Constitution of Burma, Art. 201.
(^35) Constitution of Burma, Art. 333 (h) still requires the candidate judge to be a ‘person loyal to
the Union and its citizens’, while Art. 333 (g) requires him or her to have a ‘political,
administrative, economic and security outlook’.
(^36) Constitution of Burma, Art. 333.
(^37) See generally Sean Turnell, ‘Myanmar in 2010 : doors open, doors close’ ( 2011 ) 51 ( 1 )Asian
Survey 148. For an analysis of the electoral laws operating in this election, see Michael F.
Martin, ‘Burma’s 2010 elections: implications of the new constitution and election laws’,
Congressional Research Service, 29 April 2010 , available atwww.crs.gov, accessed 1
December 2011 ; Richard Horsey, ‘Preliminary analysis of Myanmar’s 2010 electoral laws’,
prepared for the Conflict Prevention & Peace Forum, 31 March 2010 , available at
http://anfrel.org/country/Myanmar/Political_Overview/ 2010 /Burma% 20 electons% 20 law%
20 analysis.PDF, accessed 1 December 2011.