Aung San Suu Kyi`s opposition party admitted on Wednesday it cannot win its fight to change a Constitution that bars her from Myanmar`s presidency, following a parliamentary decision to postpone amendments until after 2015 elections.
Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy, said an effective Army veto in Parliament meant the NLD would not prevail in its efforts to overhaul the charter during an ongoing debate in the legislature.
Parliamentary representatives of the powerful military have lined up during the debate to voice opposition to major change.
“Calculate the ratio mathematically. We cannot win (the fight to change key sections of the Constitution),” he told a news agency, listing both the clause that bars Suu Kyi and the one that gives the military the final say on amendments.
“So why are we working for it? Because we believe in democracy,” he added, in some of the party`s most downbeat remarks on a constitution which many believe was specifically designed to thwart Suu Kyi`s political rise.
Legislators will choose a new president after a general election in November 2015. The party of the veteran democracy campaigner is expected to win the general election if polls are free and fair.
But Suu Kyi cannot stand for the top post because a clause in the constitution, 59f, bans those with a foreign spouse or children. Her late husband and two sons are British.
Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann said on Tuesday a referendum would be held next May on any charter amendments approved by parliament after the current heated debate in the capital Naypyidaw.
