Myanmar Parliament Begins New Session as Question of Presidency Lingers

While Suu Kyi, 70, has pledged to run the government regardless, she has been careful not to provoke military leaders, even urging supporters not to celebrate the NLD’s win.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, center, leaves along with Win Myint, right, who was selected as Speaker for the Lower House for an upcoming parliament session, during a regular session of Parliament Thursday, Jan 28, 2016, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.

A junta-drafted constitution bars Suu Kyi from becoming president, gives the military control over three security ministries and a quarter of seats in parliament, which will force the NLD into constant negotiations with the armed forces.

Monday’s sitting of Parliament is the first step in a drawn-out transition which will culminate in the new government officially starting its term in April. The charter says the President must not have close family members who “owe allegiance to a foreign power”; Suu Kyi’s two sons are British citizens.

“We have been hoping for an NLD government for a long time”.

“I believe we can all co-operate for our country and people, whether it is outside or inside the parliament”, said Suu Kyi, who was held captive for more than 15 years by the army. This has started speculation over who would be nominated for president.

With 390 seats in the two-chamber 664-seat Parliament the NLD will easily have the numbers to name the new president.

Suu Kyi spent much of the time between each of her election victories as a guarded prisoner in her own home in Yangon. “Probably both because the party is inexperienced in these areas, and this is the first-go-round, and because they want to informally float a whole range of names past military leaders and other important players, to see if these names are acceptable”. The victor will become president, with the other two serving as vice presidents. Many people still keep their ink-blackened little fingers, which they used to cast their vote in November’s historic polls, as a badge of honour and a sign of pride in Myanmar’s rapid development.

The 51.5 million population expect a lot from the NLD, from bringing peace to fractured ethnic states to stopping the abuse of Rohingya Muslims by the Buddhist majority in Rakhine. The Lady, as she is often called in Myanmar, passed over many independent-minded, popular and media-friendly party members when selecting the NLD’s parliamentary candidates last August, and has since ordered NLD cadres not to speak to the press about the party’s transition plans.

“The NLD government will benefit from unrivaled and unprecedented access to global resources and foreign investment”, said Herve Lemahieu, a research associate at the worldwide Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

The Nobel Peace laureate also said she will include in the new Cabinet at least one member of the military-linked USDP, as well as members from ethnic minorities who have complained of being sidelined from power.

“To accomplish the challenges, they need to choose the right people and put them in right positions”, said Shwe Mann.