Aung San Suu Kyi : Change the constitution for free and fair elections
Brussels (
AsiaNews / Agencies) - Without changes to the Constitution , the presidential
election of 2015 in Myanmar will not be democratic , fair or representative . This
was underlined by the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on an official
tour of the European Union . "The
Constitution should be amended ," said the Nobel Peace Prize Winner during
a meeting over the weekend in Brussels with Jose Manuel Barroso, President of
the European Commission. If
the fundamental law of the State is not be amended, said the Lady, " the
2015 elections can not be free and fair ."
In
2015, Myanmar will go to the polls for parliamentary elections , the vote will
renew the entire parliament which will then elect a new head of state. After
decades of military dictatorship , in 2011 the country celebrated the first free
elections (in part) in recent history, with a supplementary round in 2012 that
marked the entrance of the leader of the National League for Democracy - who spent
15 of the last
22 years under house arrest by order of the junta - into Parliament.
Aung
San Suu Kyi says she wants to run for the highest office in the country. However,
first the Constitution needs to be amended.
It was approved by the military in 2008 with a farce vote during an emergency
caused by Cyclone Nargis and to date, contains a provision that prevents the de
facto leader from being democratically elected. That
the law provides that citizens who are married or have children of foreign
nationality can not be elected. The
two sons of the woman are of British nationality, as well as their father
Michael Aris who died of illness in 1999.
In
the context of the European tour, the Burmese opposition leader will also go to
Luxembourg to receive the most important EU human rights award, won in 1990,
when she was under arrest . The
Sakharov Prize will be presented tomorrow in Strasbourg , while today she is
expected to address EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
17/03/2021 13:08