Suu Kyi meets Myanmar President, Army Chief

Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi held talks on Wednesday with the President and the Army Chief about the handover of power, the first such discussions since her Opposition party’s election triumph.

Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won nearly 80 per cent of contested seats in a November 8 election that appears set to end the military’s decades-long chokehold on the country.

Immediately after the poll she had appealed for “national reconciliation” talks with President Thein Sein and the powerful Army Chief.

Both men have congratulated her on the NLD’s victory and vowed to ensure a smooth transition of power to an elected Opposition — an unprecedented act in the country’s history.

But Opposition supporters remain wary of a military that has duped them before and retains significant political clout, including filling a quarter of all parliamentary seats.

Ms Suu Kyi, 70, is also barred from the presidency by the Constitution, while new NLD legislators are not due to take their seats until at least February, making for a nervous few months of transition.

The NLD won a similar landslide in 1990 polls, only to see the military ignore the result and dig in for another two decades.

On Wednesday morning Ms Suu Kyi spent 45 minutes in the capital Naypyidaw with Thein Sein, a former top junta general who has shed his uniform to steer reforms.

“They discussed the peaceful transfer to the next government. The discussion was warm and open,” information minister Ye Htut told reporters.

“We have no tradition of the peaceful (power) transfer to a new elected government since we gained independence in 1948. We will establish this tradition without fail,” he added.