Yangon Mayor Maung Maung Soe told Mizzima that they were redrafting the Municipal Law, which has weaknesses, with the assistance of Singaporean legal experts.
“It is really shameful. This new Municipal Law is not as good and comprehensive as the law enacted in 1922,” he said, referring to the legislation brought in under British colonial rule.
The Yangon Mayor was speaking after a ceremony for the third death anniversary of journalist Hantharwady Win Tin which was held at Royal Rose Hall in Yangon.
Yangon Mayor added that under the directive given by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, this Municipal Law was being jointly redrafted by legal experts from Myanmar and Singapore and this process would take about six months.
He said he assumed that the current Rules of Yangon Municipal Law, which is currently being used by Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), were overruling the parent law in many places.
“The parent law has rules but these rules cannot overrule the parent law. I mean the rules made some overruling and overriding of the parent law in many provisions. Most of our leaders do not like this. They want the rules to be systematic and the rules cannot override and overrule the parent law,” Maung Maung Soe said.
He added that since this current Municipal Law was incomplete and was not comprehensive, leading to the possibility of vote rigging and malpractice in municipal elections.
The YCDC election under this Municipal Law at different levels was conducted for the first time in December 2014. Candidates in these elections criticized the weaknesses found in procedures and electoral methods.