Myanmar’s Parliament will bring forward a vote for the next President to March 10, it was announced on Tuesday, leaving little time for Aung San Suu Kyi to strike a deal to let her take the top offic
Myanmar’s Parliament will bring forward a vote for the next President to March 10, it was announced on Tuesday, leaving little time for Aung San Suu Kyi to strike a deal to let her take the top office.
The country’s democracy figurehead is currently banned from becoming President under the junta-era Constitution.
Ms Suu Kyi has held several rounds of closed-door talks with the powerful military since her National League for Democracy party won crushing victory at elections in November.
Observers say the talks were likely aimed at testing the military’s appetite for a constitutional change to allow Ms Suu Kyi to the top job, a post many of Myanmar’s people see as her destiny.
But news that the presidential vote has been brought forward by one week suggests negotiations have failed to reach a deal to clear her path to power.
“We are going to hold the meetings... For MPs to be able to elect the President and vice-presidents on March 10, Thursday, a week earlier than was previously announced,” Win Khaing Than, Speaker of Myanmar’s combined houses of Parliament, told legislators on Tuesday.
The handover from a half century of military rule to a popularly elected government has been complex and drawn out — and the Army will continue to play a major role.
It is still unclear who will take over on March 31 from President Thein Sein, the former General who has steered dramatic reforms since 2011.
In typically cryptic comments on Tuesday, NLD spokesman Win Htein said the party stood behind an eventual Suu Kyi presidency.
“Aung San Suu Kyi must become the President... It just depends on whether it is earlier or later,” he told reporters in the capital Naypyidaw.
