Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi put her political future in the hands of the people of Myanmar on Monday, saying that a parliamentary panel vote to retain a key constitutional clause was intended to bar her from running for the presidency.
A parliamentary committee tasked with recommending amendments to the constitution in Myanmar has refused to change a provision that bars anyone married to a foreigner or with children of foreign citizenship from becoming head of state.
Suu Kyi’s late husband was British, as are her two sons.
“I do believe the constitution was written with me in mind,” the 68-year-old opposition leader told reporters in Nepal. “This is of course unacceptable democratically speaking that one person should be targeted by … the constitution. Whether or not I become president in future depends on the will of the people.”
Suu Kyi met with Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and other leaders during her three-day visit to Nepal during which she offered prayers at Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, in west Nepal.
Most experts believe the relevant clause was written into Myanmar’s 2008 constitution expressly to sideline Suu Kyi, whose resistance to military rule, most of it from house arrest, won international renown.
