A failure to amend the 2008 Constitution would raise doubts about the credibility of the democratic reform process in Myanmar, says the United States.
The constitution should be amended to allow civilian control of the military and to give citizens the right “to elect freely the leaders of their choice,” a US embassy spokesperson told Reutersnewsagency on April 7.
The Reuters report said the embassy did not link constitutional change to the legitimacy of the general election due late this year.
"Ultimately, however, the viability and legitimacy of the 2015 election as a democratic exercise will be determined by the people of Burma,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, DawAung San SuuKyi, told Reuters in an April 4 interview that the party would not rule out a boycott of the election if the constitution was not amended.
She emphasised the importance of the election for the transition process, saying it would be “the real test of whether we are on the route to democracy”.
The NLD has long campaigned for amendments to the constitution because of articles that give unelected military members of parliament an effective veto over charter change and make DawAung San SuuKyi ineligible to contest the presidency.