Myanmar’s democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, center, at Parliament in Naypyitaw last month. She is barred by the military-drafted Constitution from becoming president because her two sons have foreign citizenship, as did her late husband. Credit Aung Shine Oo/Associated Press

Aung San Suu Kyi Finds Roadblocks on Path to Presidency

 International New York Times | 7 March 2016

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has said that if she cannot be the head of state, she will run the government through a proxy president. It is unclear what title, if any, she may take for herself.

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — Efforts by Myanmar’s democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to negotiate her way to the presidency this year have failed, associates of hers confirmed on Monday, highlighting the challenges her party faces as it prepares to take power on April 1.

The setback is just one sign of potential difficulty for the party, the National League for Democracy, when it succeeds a quasi-military government that has ensured the armed forces will continue to have significant authority.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and tight-lipped party officials here in the capital have revealed little of their intentions. Three weeks before it will take over, the party has yet to announce a program or plan of action for the new government. And even though it holds a majority of the seats in Parliament, which will elect the next president, it has yet to reveal its candidate.

“We don’t want any controversy because of our predictions and our interviews,” said U Win Htein, a senior party member and one of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s closest advisers. “We just want to be low key.”

Military representatives after a Parliament session in Naypyidaw, the capital, last week. Because the military is guaranteed 25 percent of the seats in Parliament, it has veto power over any changes in the Constitution. Credit Hein Htet/European Pressphoto Agency

U Nyan Win, another senior party member and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, said he also could not discuss the party’s program.

“Our transfer of power is very delicate, so I can’t talk about it,” he said.

Myanmar faces a host of complex problems, including civil war with ethnic groups, decades of stunted economic development and widespread discrimination against a Muslim minority, the Rohingya. Some analysts suggest that the party has not disclosed its plan for dealing with these problems because it has not developed one.

The party, and the election campaign, were built largely around Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, and beyond the idea of restoring democracy, few issues were discussed.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent 15 years under house arrest, is barred by the military-drafted Constitution from becoming president because her two sons have foreign citizenship, as did her late husband.

Because the military is guaranteed 25 percent of the seats in Parliament, it has veto power over any proposed changes to the Constitution.

During the election campaign last year, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi brushed off the problem, insisting that she would be “above the president.”

But since her party won a landslide in the voting on Nov. 8, she has been negotiating with the military to allow her to fill the post. Those talks have been fruitless, her aides said.

On Thursday, the two houses of Parliament and the military will put forward three candidates for the nation’s top offices. One will become president; the other two will become vice presidents. Parliament is expected to elect the president next week.

The National League for Democracy seems certain to elect its nominee.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has said that if she cannot be the head of state, she will run the government through a proxy president. It is unclear what title, if any, she may take for herself.

Party officials said she would try again after a year to negotiate a constitutional change that would allow her to become president.

This is the second time that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has led her party to overwhelming victory at the polls only to be denied the presidency. In 1990, her party swept an election, but the government, then completely dominated by the military, ignored the results and refused to yield power. She was put under house arrest soon after.

National League for Democracy leaders have said they will focus on national reconciliation and not seek to make changes too quickly.

One of the most pressing tasks will be forming a new government and appointing cabinet ministers. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has indicated that she wants to reduce the number of ministries from three dozen to 20 or 22. Such a reorganization could itself cause upheaval in the government.

Richard Horsey, an independent political analyst and former United Nations official in Myanmar, said the party had talked in general terms about establishing the rule of law and democracy. But how that will translate into specific policies remains unclear.

“We don’t know exactly what their economic policy will be or how they will deal with the peace process,” he said. “We don’t know precisely what they are thinking of doing and in what order. And I’m not sure that they do either.”

Once Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi names her ministers and they take office, he noted, they will be faced with a deluge of urgent decisions.

“The indication is that big-picture planning is only being done in the most general sense,” he said. “They could end up in firefighting mode for quite a long time.”

Establishing peace with the ethnic groups that have long battled the military government and still control large parts of the country will be one of the most immediate problems. But that will also require the involvement of the military.

Under the Constitution, it is the armed forces chief, not the president, who appoints three of the most powerful cabinet members: the ministers of defense, home affairs and border affairs.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is also expected to give high priority to freeing political prisoners. Most of the country’s political prisoners have already been released, but about 500 remain, most of them activists who have been arrested, tried and convicted under current laws.

They come under the authority of the home affairs minister, not the president, limiting the party’s ability to free them.

Despite the many problems facing the new government, people’s hopes and expectations remain high.

This will be the first democratically elected government since the military seized power in 1962.

“Since 1962, no government has really been ready to govern the country,” said U Kyaw Win, a political analyst. “The N.L.D. is also like this. But I’m not worried about that because I don’t think it will be worse than right now. It will become better, I think.”