"This post is adapted from a paper presented by the author at the ANU Myanmar Update 2017.... The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament) in Myanmar is getting ready to convene a new parliamentary session and members of parliament are making their way back to Naypyitaw. The vast meeting rooms and empty halls of Myanmar?s oversized capital city will once again be buzzing with activity. The upcoming session will be the sixth session of parliamentary sittings since the National League for Democracy (NLD) formed government in 2016. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is a bicameral national parliament in which the NLD holds a majority of the seats, with 25% of the seats held by the military. The upcoming parliamentary session is likely to be a busy one, not least because the crisis in Rakhine state has focused much attention on Myanmar and its nascent political transition. In fact, the highly active role played by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw since it was first convened in 2011 under a new Constitution has been one of the more remarkable features of the transition. Despite expectations to the contrary, the parliament has been very proactive in exercising its legislative mandate, approving a total of 251 laws as of the end of 2016. This lawmaking drive is unprecedented as much as it is unexpected. Prior to 2011, Myanmar had no national legislative assembly for over 20 years after the military assumed power in 1988 following a nationwide uprising. The military regime (through the State Law and Order Restoration Council and its successor, the State Peace and Development Council) simply issued decrees and declarations to fill the legislative void. Prior to 1988, lawmaking power was vested in a one-party unicameral legislature under social rule and before that, an unelected Revolutionary Council established by the military after a coup in 1962. The last time Myanmar had a representative legislative assembly was in the period between 1948 and 1962, a short-lived episode of parliamentary democracy following independence from British colonial rule.//"