Naypyidaw: Myanmar’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 on Friday.
“They agreed to discuss the issue of amending the constitution in parliament, according to the law,” presidential spokesman Ye Htut told reporters after President Thein Sein held unprecedented talks with army top brass and political rivals including Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi is trying to change key sections of Myanmar’s constitution ahead of 2015 elections that are widely expected to be won by her National League for Democracy (NLD) – if they are free and fair.
The NLD has focused on altering a provision that currently ensures the military in the former junta-ruled nation has a veto on any amendment to the previous charter.
To alter the constitution there needs to be support from a majority of over 75 per cent of parliament.
As it stands, Suu Kyi is ineligible to become president 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. (AFP)