YANGON, (Reuters) – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday she would be “above the president” if her party wins a historic election on Nov. 8, defying a constitutional ban on becoming president herself.
Suu Kyi’s remarks could complicate her already fraught relations with Myanmar’s military, which drafted the 2008 constitution to preserve its power and effectively exclude her from leading the country. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) is the frontrunner in the first general election since a semi-civilian government took power in 2011 after nearly 50 years of military dictatorship.
“If we win, and the NLD forms a government, I will be above the president. It’s a very simple message,” a relaxed and smiling Suu Kyi told reporters at her lakeside home in Yangon.
When asked if this arrangement violated the constitution, Suu Kyi replied: “No. The constitution says nothing about somebody being above the president.”
The constitution however states that the president “takes precedence over all other persons” in Myanmar and Zaw Htay, a senior official at the President’s Office, told Reuters that Suu Kyi’s comments were, “against the constitutional provision.”
The constitution also reserves a quarter of all parliamentary seats for the military and bars presidential candidates with foreign spouses or children. Suu Kyi had two sons with a late British academic.
“While the constitution is far from perfect, and understandably perceived as a flawed document, it still serves as the basis for Myanmar’s current political system, including the elections this weekend,” said Nyantha Maw Lin, managing director at political consultancy Vriens & Partners in Yangon.
Suu Kyi said the NLD had already chosen someone who was prepared to act as president, but would not say who it was.
According to speculation in Myanmar’s media, likely candidates include the speaker of lower house, an aging NLD party patron and even Suu Kyi’s personal physician.
