BBC Online :
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has vowed to lead the country if her National League for Democracy comes to power in the upcoming election.
This is despite the fact that she is constitutionally barred from the presidency because she married and had children with a foreign citizen.
The historic poll on 8 November is set to be the first openly contested general election in 25 years.
The NLD is expected to win the most seats.
“I’ve made it quite clear that if the NLD wins elections and we form a government, I’m going to be the leader of that government whether or not I’m the president,” Ms Suu Kyi said
in an interview with India Today TV. Myanmar does not have a prime minister and the president, who is voted on by parliament after the election, serves as both head of state and head of government.
BBC correspondents in Myanmar say it remains unclear how Ms Suu Kyi could lead the government while barred from the presidency.
They add, however, that her ambitions to be president have never been hidden and as a party leader with no clear rivals she would inevitably set the policy of any NLD-majority government.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption The ruling USDP is less popular than the NLD but has the backing of the country’s powerful military
Ms Suu Kyi does not have a chosen deputy, which has raised questions about who would lead the government in the event of the NLD landslide required to win a majority in parliament, where 25% of seats are allocated to the military.
But in some of her most detailed comments on the issue yet, Ms Suu Kyi said it “would have to be” her, as party leader.
“Why not? Should you have to be president to lead a country?” she said. The Nobel laureate dismissed suggestions that she would seek to emulate Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s Congress party, who wielded significant power behind the scenes of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government.
In just over a month Myanmar will hold its first relatively free election in 25 years. It will be a critical moment in this country’s move away from isolation and military dictatorship, but not as important as the negotiations that will follow.
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has vowed to lead the country if her National League for Democracy comes to power in the upcoming election.
This is despite the fact that she is constitutionally barred from the presidency because she married and had children with a foreign citizen.
The historic poll on 8 November is set to be the first openly contested general election in 25 years.
The NLD is expected to win the most seats.
“I’ve made it quite clear that if the NLD wins elections and we form a government, I’m going to be the leader of that government whether or not I’m the president,” Ms Suu Kyi said
in an interview with India Today TV. Myanmar does not have a prime minister and the president, who is voted on by parliament after the election, serves as both head of state and head of government.
BBC correspondents in Myanmar say it remains unclear how Ms Suu Kyi could lead the government while barred from the presidency.
They add, however, that her ambitions to be president have never been hidden and as a party leader with no clear rivals she would inevitably set the policy of any NLD-majority government.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption The ruling USDP is less popular than the NLD but has the backing of the country’s powerful military
Ms Suu Kyi does not have a chosen deputy, which has raised questions about who would lead the government in the event of the NLD landslide required to win a majority in parliament, where 25% of seats are allocated to the military.
But in some of her most detailed comments on the issue yet, Ms Suu Kyi said it “would have to be” her, as party leader.
“Why not? Should you have to be president to lead a country?” she said. The Nobel laureate dismissed suggestions that she would seek to emulate Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s Congress party, who wielded significant power behind the scenes of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government.
In just over a month Myanmar will hold its first relatively free election in 25 years. It will be a critical moment in this country’s move away from isolation and military dictatorship, but not as important as the negotiations that will follow.
