Myanmar Talks Could Open Door to Presidency for Aung San Suu Kyi

International New York Times | 5 February 2016

Military representatives of Parliament registering for the first session of the upper house at the capital, Naypyidaw, on Wednesday. Credit Hein Htet/European Pressphoto Agency

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — The democracy movement of the Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is negotiating with Myanmar’s military over the composition of the next government, including a possible deal that would allow her to be president, two senior members of her party said on Friday.

The officials said the party had offered senior government posts to the military as part of a deal in which the military would allow Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi to be president.

The precise details of the negotiations remain murky, and the party members spoke on the condition of anonymity because, in the words of one, “now is a very sensitive time.”

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won the election in November by a landslide, ending five decades of military rule here. But the country’s Constitution, which was written by the military, bars her from the presidency because her two children have foreign citizenship, as did her husband, who died in 1999.

The Constitution can only be amended with the consent of the military.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy, observing a session of Parliament on Wednesday. Credit Hein Htet/European Pressphoto Agency

Relations between Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner, and the military are seen as crucial to the success of her government. In addition to the lock on the Constitution, the military retains control of a quarter of the seats in Parliament and several key ministries.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has long desired the presidency and has campaigned to amend the Constitution to allow it.

During the election campaign she said she planned to have her party elect a proxy who would answer to her, putting her “above” the president.

But now members of her party say they are hopeful that she can assume the post herself.

The party has a solid majority in the new Parliament, which convened for the first time this week. The negotiations have been largely held in the shadows of the week’s parliamentary session.

“The negotiations have been through brokers,” said U Zaw Htay, a member of the government’s transition team who served as a director in the office of departing President Thein Sein.

Among those believed to be brokering the negotiations is Thura Shwe Mann, the former speaker of the lower house of Parliament who, despite having been a top official in the repressive dictatorship, has since become an ally of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s.

One senior member of the National League for Democracy said the party was considering offering the post of chief minister, the top regional executive job, in three important places: the city of Yangon, Rakhine State and Shan State. Yangon is the country’s commercial capital, while Rakhine and Shan are restive states in which the military has a large presence.

Members of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party have been outwardly optimistic that she will be able to become president.

U Tin Oo, a former general and co-founder of the National League for Democracy, said this week that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi would “definitely become president.”

But the military-run Myawaddy newspaper ran a commentary on Monday, the day that the new Parliament opened, saying that amending the Constitution would be against “the national interest.”