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Suu Kyi in talks for high office in Myanmar

In the space of five years, Aung San Suu Kyi went from house arrest to leading her party to an election victory. But her rise seems to have been blocked by an article in the constitution barring her from the top office.

Talks are now under way to remove the remaining obstacle, reports and observers say.

A proposal to suspend the offending article 59(f) '… will be submitted to the parliament soon' said a lawmaker of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, close to the party's senior leaders, who asked not to be named.

The urgency is because '… the NLD needs to make its presidential nomination before the end of March' he said. As the article most obviously affects Suu Kyi, the emphasis on timing implies that her name is under consideration for the nominations.

Article 59(f) of the military-drafted text currently disqualifies anyone with a foreign spouse or children from becoming president. Suu Kyi's late husband was British, and her children have British passports.

Observers have said the NLD has been negotiating with the military on a possible solution ever since November's election, in which the party won overwhelming majorities in both houses, displacing the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party led by outgoing President Thein Sein.

Suu Kyi has been evasive, but indicated something is afoot. "Don't be anxious," she told journalists last week who pressed her on her plans for the presidency. "You will know when the time comes."

In behind-the-scenes talks, the military has been demanding that the majority-wielding NLD allow it to appoint chief ministers of four key regions in exchange for its support for a suspension of article 59(f), according to several local media reports.

The nominations for president will be published on March 17, the parliament speaker said Monday. Under Myanmar's system, the lower house and the upper house each put forward a candidate, and the combined military contingents name one of their own.

In Myanmar 25 per cent of seats are reserved for military-appointed members of Parliament.

In an aggregate vote by the two houses, the winner is made president, while the two others become vice-presidents.

If the NLD is allowed to nominate Suu Kyi, its domination of that overall vote would likely ensure her final victory in time for the new government to take power on April 1.

The negotiations seem to be going well, a source in Naypyitaw close to the military outgoing rulers told dpa this week.

"The military said they want to make sure they maintain stability in these four regions, and their nominees are acceptable," he said. "I think NLD is going to agree."

The key areas in question are the region around Yangon, and the states of Shan, Rakhine and Kachin. The former is the old capital and remains the economic hub, while the other three have recently seen active ethnic rebellions against the military government.

'Don't touch these laws'

Among the public, there is some opposition to allowing Suu Kyi access to top office, in particular from hardline Buddhists, who resent Suu Kyi's perceived support for the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority.

'Don't touch these laws,' firebrand Mandalay monk Wirathu said on his Facebook page Wednesday. The activist's Ma Ba Tha (Race and Religion Protection Organisation) is closely watching the reform plan, he said.

He also warned against tampering with the 1982 Citizenship Law, which excludes the Rohingya from the country's official list of ethnic groups.

The party representing the Buddhist majority in the Rakhine state, where the Rohingya are concentrated, also opposes reform.

"We will fight any proposal to suspend the article 59 (f) in parliament even though we are in a minority there," said May Bu of the Arakan National Party, a Rakhine-based party that won most of the state's seats.

Communal violence between Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine since mid-2012 has left over hundred dead and thousands homeless or in camps, mostly among the Muslim minority.

May Bu warned her party '… would not cooperate with NLD in handling issues in Rakhine state' if the ruling party pushed ahead with its 'stupid changes'.

Even the military outgoing rulers, publicly at least, have been putting some distance between themselves and the rumours of reform.

"Article 59(f) should last forever to prevent threats to the country in future," the army-run Myawaddy newspaper wrote last week.

- dpa

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