Thursday, June 06, 2013 | Posted by hnm
Ms Suu Kyi cannot become president under the current constitution
Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is calling for a change to the constitution that would allow her to run for president.
Burma's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said she would like to run for president in elections due to be held in 2015, if she is allowed.
The constitution currently blocks anyone from getting the job if their spouses or children are overseas citizens.
The clause is widely believed to target the Nobel Peace laureate as Ms Suu Kyi's two sons with her late husband Michael Aris are British.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Burma's capital, Naypyidaw, she called for an amendment to the military-drafted constitution which prevents her from leading the country.
"I want to run for president and I'm quite frank about it," the veteran democracy activist told delegates. "If I pretended that I didn't want to be president I wouldn't be honest."
President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government has surprised the world since coming to power two years ago with dramatic political and economic changes that have led to the lifting of most Western sanctions.
Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed, democracy champion Ms Suu Kyi has been welcomed into a new parliament and tentative ceasefires have been reached in the country's multiple ethnic civil wars.
Ms Suu Kyi, who was herself locked up by the former junta for a total of 15 years, remains hugely popular in Burma and her National League for Democracy party is widely expected to win the elections, if they are free and fair.
The opposition leader called for all of the Burmese people to be included in the reform process, warning that otherwise the changes could be jeopardised.
"If the people feel that they're included in this reform process then it will not be reversible - or at least it will not be easily reversible," she said.
"But if there are too many people who feel excluded then the dangers of a reversal of the situation would be very great," she added.
Posted by hnm
on Thursday, June 06, 2013. Filed under
