Myanmar transition jitters Tweet submit « « PREVIOUS POST Obama says Assad must go to end Syria civil war NEXT POST Man City’s Nasri out for three months » » Suu Kyi begins ‘reconciliation’ talks amid Myanmar transition jitters

Aung San Suu Kyi met Myanmar’s influential
parliamentary speaker Thursday for key talks as the
country moves from decades of military rule
toward democracy after landmark polls this month.
Uncertainty surrounds the protracted handover of
power in the Southeast Asian nation, after Suu Kyi’s
opposition National League for Democracy swept to
victory in the November 8 polls, the first free and
fair elections in a quarter century.
Her closed-door meeting with former general Shwe
Mann, with whom she has developed an amicable
working relationship, was “confidential”, according
to NLD spokesman Win Htein.
“We are working on important matters for the
country,” he added.
Shwe Mann had at one point been tipped as a
potential compromise candidate for the role until
he was ousted from the leadership of the army-
backed ruling the Union Solidarity and
Development Party in August, and then lost his
constituency race in the elections.
The meeting is the first of three “national
reconciliation” discussions set to take place,
including with the president and army chief.
Much of the uncertainty over Myanmar’s transition
is around who will be the next president — a role
denied to Suu Kyi by the army-drafted constitution
because she married and had children with a
foreigner.
Suu Kyi has requested talks with President Thein
Sein and powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing to
try and smooth a delicate transition that will
further chip away at the military’s influence.
Both men have agreed to the meetings and
congratulated Suu Kyi on her sweeping victory in
the first polls the party has contested in a quarter
of a century.
But a date for talks has not yet materialised and
officials in the president’s office have indicated that
it could be weeks before they can go ahead.
This has jarred nerves in Myanmar, where the
NLD’s 1990 electoral landslide was ignored by the
then ruling junta, who held onto power for a
further two decades before ceding to a quasi-
civilian regime in 2011.
Thein Sein, who will remain in office until March
under Myanmar’s complex system which enshrines
a lengthy power handover, will wait until after “all
the processes of the election” are completed, the
President’s Office director Zaw Htay told AFP.
This could be protracted as election officials wait
for final results from a handful of constituencies,
while also processing complaints of irregularities
from some candidates.
Suu Kyi has opted to take a modest approach to
victory so far, dampening celebrations despite her
party’s 80 percent majority in the combined
national parliament.
The result trounced Thein Sein’s current ruling
party, which will continue to dominate parliament
during a lameduck session that is set to last until
the end of January.