Roundup: Myanmar heads for peaceful power transfer after election

Myanmar's election-winning opposition party leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday met with two key ruling figures out of three - the current president and army chief - and won their support for a peaceful power transfer.

The significant meetings between Suu Kyi and President U Thein Sein and Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing on separate occasions eased people's concern over probable instability during the transition, observers here said.

President U Thein Sein and Suu Kyi discussed about systematic power transfer, according to Presidential Spokesperson U Ye Htut.

In another meeting, Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing agreed to cooperate and work for the interest of the country.

Their talks focused on coordination and cooperation for stability and tranquility, law enforcement, national consolidation and national development.

Earlier, Suu Kyi also met with U Shwe Mann, speaker of the Union Parliament and House of Representatives (Lower House). They agreed to place emphasis on national reconciliation and consolidation in forming parliament of the next term through coordination and cooperation.

All significant dialogues took place in response to the request of Suu Kyi three days after her party won a landslide in the Nov. 8 general election.

The current parliament is to expire on Jan. 31, 2016 and a new government is to be formed in February, with the presidential run taking place in accordance with the constitution.

The result of the general election shows that the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Suu Kyi, dominates the absolute majority of the parliamentary seats, which is strong enough for it to form the government independently under the constitution and has right to nominate the president and two vice presidents.

Suu Kyi herself also won as a representative re-elected to the Lower House of the next parliament.

In the general election, the NLD won 880 parliamentary seats or 77.3 percent out of a total of 1,139 at three levels of parliament.

Under the constitution promulgated by the previous military government in May 2008, two key sensitive sections -- 436 and 50 (f) are restricting Suu Kyi to become president due to her family status which involves foreign citizenship.

The NLD is yet to disclose the person selected for the presidency.

Efforts which were made occasionally in parliament for the amendment of these constitutional sections failed despite a two-month nationwide signature campaign of 5 million, organized by the NLD in collaboration with the 88-Generation Students Peace and Open Society that calls for the constitutional change.

Of Myanmar's parliament members, the non-elected army representatives account for 25 percent or one fourth of the legislative body, while the rest are shared by elected representatives from various political parties and ethnic parties.

The NLD, established in September 1988, won the 1990 general election overwhelmingly when Suu Kyi was under house arrest, but the then military government refused to hand over power.

In the 2012 by-elections, the party won 43 out of the 45 open parliamentary seats with Suu Kyi becoming a parliamentarian after she was released from house arrest and the party regained its legal status. Enditem