Still, NLD leader Suu Kyi can not be elected president because of another clause in the constitution written by the military ” anyone with a foreign spouse or children is ineligible.
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Suu Kyi, 70, has sought to take a conciliatory approach following the elections, dampening victory celebrations and requesting talks with President Thein Sein, army chief Min Aung Hlaing and parliament speaker Shwe Mann – heavyweights from the former junta.
Feted by many in the West for her role as champion of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement during long years of military rule, she has been criticized overseas, and by a few in Myanmar, for saying little about the abuses faced by the group.
He appeared sanguine about the resounding defeat of his army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which will slip into opposition in the next parliament – due to sit from February.
“I want to say that we will keep holding this policy in the future and in a peaceful way as well”, said NLD spokesperson, Nyan Win.
He made the comments at a meeting of political leaders in Yangon. These included three groups fighting in northern Shan State – the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army – and three groups the government said did not have military forces – the Wa National Organisation, the Lahu Democratic Union and the Arakan National Council. Thein Sein’s government met a few of the NLD’s demands for election law changes, and the opposition party agreed to run in by-elections in 2012, taking 43 of 44 seats it contested.
After forming a new government, she said, the NLD will lay out a “clear and precise” timeline for reforms. Burned into public memory is the bitter disappointment of the 1990 elections, which were won overwhelmingly by the NLD only to be ignored by the military, who clung to power for another two decades.
But also crushed in the rout were dozens of parties representing ethnic minorities, who make up less than half the country’s 51.5 million population, and who have a long history of antagonism and insurgency against the military junta that ruled Burma for half a century.
“This time, we would have voted for the NLD”, she said, a sentiment widely reflected across the camp.
“We’ll be damned if we do, and we’ll be damned if we don’t”, said Win Htein, a senior NLD leader, adding that standing up for the Rohingya would give the ANP “ample reason to criticize the NLD”.
But Ms Suu Kyi she has repeatedly said she would lead the country anyway if the NLD won. President Koirala has praised the courage and commitment shown by the people of Myanmar in the recent election.
The term of the current government will expire at the end of March 2016.
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Like the military, the NLD is dominated by the Burman, an ethnic-majority population that lives in the country’s central lowlands.
