‘Suu Kyi could become Myanmar President’

On Monday, an official said the names of Myanmar’s next president and two vice presidents will be revealed on March 17, setting a clear timeline for the transition of power from a military-controlled government to democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. Speculations on Suu Kyi’s role began soon after. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party won a landslide victory in the November 8 general elections. But she is barred from becoming president because of the Constitution’s Article 59 (f), which says anyone with a foreign spouse or children cannot hold the executive office. Suu Kyi’s late husband was British as are her two sons. 

In separate but identical broadcasts late Sunday, Sky Net and Myanmar National Television said “positive results could come out on the negotiation for the suspension of the constitution Article 59 (f).” Suu Kyi has been negotiating with commander-in-chief General Min Aung Hlaing on having the clause suspended, which can be legally removed only through a two-thirds vote in Parliament. 

The military holds 25 percent of the nominated seats in Parliament, which means the NLD cannot scrap the clause on its own. “I think everything will be fine,” Kyaw Htwe, a member of Central Committee of the NLD, told The Associated Press. “The negotiations will be positive for our leader Aung San Suu Kyi to become president,” said Mr Kyaw Htwe, who is also a member of parliament. 

But Yan Myo Thein, a political analyst, advised caution. “It is still too early to confirm that Suu Kyi will be among the presidential candidate,” he said. “Even the suspension and the constitutional amendment will take time. And we cannot really comment relying only on a short announcement on TV,” he said. Suu Kyi has said previously that even if she doesn’t become the president she would run the country from behind the scenes. 

But clearly, the NLD would prefer the 70-year old icon of democracy to lead the country, having struggled almost all her life for it. On Friday, a legal advisory committee was launched, led by Shwe Mann, the former head of the military-tied Union Solidarity and Development Party, and one of the few Suu Kyi allies in the defeated ruling party.