"Early signs from the Yangon Hluttaw suggest that the state and region parliaments will do a better job of holding local governments to account than their predecessors...Myanmar?s state and regional legislatures have been slow to find their feet during the country?s transition. While lawmakers in Nay Pyi Taw cut ministry budgets and reshaped draft legislation, the 14 sub-national parliaments have been largely bit players in the reform process. Rarely have they challenged the state and region governments on which they are supposed to exercise oversight. The Yangon Region Hluttaw is a case in point. Over the past five years it largely acted as a rubber stamp for the regional government, signing off on budget requests and bills, and ignoring widespread complaints about service delivery and unpopular projects. Scrutiny was minimal, and brought to bear by only a handful of mostly opposition MPs. But the sub-national legislatures are important institutions for political decentralisation, which is a key issue in negotiations toward a peace settlement and broader reconciliation with ethnic minorities. They also play a significant role in service delivery in urban areas, as they approve municipal budgets and enact laws for local elections. So is the role of these new lawmaking bodies likely to develop over the coming five years? And what are the early indications from the Yangon parliament? Before considering these questions, it?s important to understand some of the reasons behind why the Yangon hluttaw and other sub-national legislatures were largely ineffective over the past five years..."