Aung San Suu Kyi to Meet Army Chief, President Dec. 2

The latest results from the country’s Union Election Commission show the NLD has claimed 179 out of 216 seats, or more than 80 percent of the results announced so far for the lower house of parliament. The constitution guarantees unelected members of the military a quarter of seats in both houses.

But Suu Kyi is still banned under the army-drafted constitution from becoming president because she married and had children with a foreigner. “I make all the decisions because I’m the leader of the winning party”.

Suu Kyi stressed the importance of meeting with Min Aung Hlaing and President Thein Sein to insure smooth transition of power. However, she said the rights of Muslims will be protected by an NLD government and anybody promoting hatred should be prosecuted.

Despite the NLD’s majority, Suu Kyi is seeking working relations with the military junta that has ruled the country since 1962.

Suu Kyi will meet the president at his official residence on Wednesday morning and the military chief in his office in the afternoon, Zaw Htay, a senior official from the President’s Office, said today. The party this month scored a landslide election victory, ending decades of military rule in Myanmar.

Despite the implementation of some reforms in the past five years, people across the country still see the Union Solidarity and Development Party as a military proxy, similar to the National Unity Party during the 1990 general election.

Nevertheless, the military retains considerable power.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday expressed the government’s support for a smooth transfer of power in Myanmar, telling a close aide of Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi she should visit Japan soon. The military released a separate statement confirming that the army chief would meet Suu Kyi at 2 pm at the defence ministry in the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday. Shwe Mann met with the NLD leader on November 19, with both parties reaffirming their commitment to a peaceful power transfer. “He welcomed the successful conduct of the campaign and of the elections and congratulated Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi for her decisive role in the progress of democracy in Myanmar, which must be pursued”, said a statement from the mission.