Myanmar’s new president will be named on Thursday – and it almost certainly won’t be Aung San Suu Kyi
The military has stressed its belief that it has a vital role to play in politics until the transition to democracy is secure, and had worried that changing the constitution quickly could set a dangerous precedent.
A deepening rift has opened between Myanmar’s powerful military and Aung San Suu Kyi, sources say, threatening the democracy leader’s prospects for forming a successful government even as parliament prepares to nominate presidential candidates on Thursday.
With the date fast approaching for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) to take power, efforts to portray the party and its former foes as working cordially together towards a smooth transfer of power have faltered, according to politicians and officials familiar with the situation.
“She believed that she would be able to work with the military, but after the last meeting with the commander-in-chief, she realised that she cannot negotiate with them,” said a senior NLD Upper House lawmaker briefed on the talks. “It’s quite clear that she has moved on from waiting for the military to collaborate.”
Talks between the NLD and the military began soon after Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory in a historic election on November 8, heralding the country’s first democratically elected government since the military took power in 1962.
But Suu Kyi has become frustrated with the intransigence of the military on issues ranging from a constitutional amendment that would allow her to become president to the location of the handover ceremony before the start of the new government on April 1, say sources in her camp.
