Burma mulls amending constitution banning her from presidency
Aung San Suu Kyi. (Photo: AFP/File)
Naypyidaw: Burma’s parliament will consider amending the country’s constitution, which currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president ahead of elections next year, an official said Friday.
Ms Suu Kyi is trying to change key sections of Bruma’s charter ahead of 2015 polls that are widely expected to be won by her National League for Democracy, if they are free and fair, after decades of disastrous military rule.
The move to moot constitutional reform was discussed during unprecedented talks between President Thein Sein and his political rivals, including Ms Suu Kyi, as well as top army brass and election officials.
“They agreed to discuss the issue of amending the constitution in parliament, according to the law,” presidential spokesman Ye Htut told reporters after the meeting in Naypyidaw.
The NLD has focused on altering a provision in the constitution that ensures the military in the former junta-ruled nation has a veto on any amendment to the charter.
It believes revising the clause will open the way for further changes to other constitutional provisions, including the ring-fenced proportion of soldiers in parliament and the effective bar on Ms Suu Kyi becoming president. As it stands, she is ineligible because of a clause in the 2008 charter blocking anyone whose spouse or children are overseas citizens from leading the country. The Nobel laureate’s late husband was British, as are her two sons.
To alter the constitution there needs to be support from a 75 per cent majority in parliament, and as unelected soldiers make up a quarter of the legislature they have the last say on any changes.
( Source : AFP )
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