Myanmar News Articles: Burma Speaker Says He’ll Run for Presidency if Nominated

Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann, center, attends an event marking the anniversary of Martyrs' Day in Rangoon on July 19, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

WASHINGTON — Burma's parliamentary speaker and former junta member Shwe Mann said Friday on a visit to Washington that he will run for the nation's presidency if nominated by the ruling party, and would consider forming a coalition with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Shwe Mann said high-level political talks involving Suu Kyi, and chiefs of the government, army and Parliament, would soon indicate whether constitutional reforms sought by the opposition leader could be expedited before parliamentary elections. The vote, due by November, is a critical point in Burma's bumpy transition from five decades of direct military rule.

The United States has ended two decades of diplomatic isolation of Burma as it has shifted to quasi-civilian rule, but it is concerned that reforms are flagging, including prospects of amending the junta-era Constitution to reduce the military's parliamentary power and to open up the presidency to Suu Kyi, currently barred because she has sons by a foreign national.

The president will be elected by the next Parliament. The incumbent, Thein Sein, is not expected to seek re-election, although he hasn't ruled out the possibility. Suu Kyi also wants to run.

As things stand, Shwe Mann is a likely frontrunner. He was No. 3 in the junta, and is now a senior figure in the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). He became speaker of the Lower House of Parliament after the last national elections in 2010, which were boycotted by Suu Kyi's party.

"If the USDP nominated me as the presidential candidate, I will be happy to accept," Shwe Mann told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, in comments translated from Burmese to English. He vowed to honor the election results.

Shwe Mann is visiting the United States with a parliamentary delegation from Burma, and has met Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. He will meet Monday with Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to discuss democratic reform.

Shwe Mann said Parliament aspires to amend the Constitution before the election, but called it a difficult task, requiring parliamentary approval and a national referendum. He said the pace at which that happened would depend on the high-level political talks, which are expected to resume later this month. He said it was possible that a referendum on constitutional amendments could he held before or at the same time as the parliamentary election. That could allow Suu Kyi to contest for the presidency, he said.

Asked if he was willing to form a coalition with Suu Kyi's party, Shwe Mann had warm words for the opposition leader, a former political prisoner who is well-respected in Washington. He said he was ready to cooperate with her or any others who care about the interests of Burma and its people.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and myself are very good friends to each other. At the same time, we could be very good competitors," Shwe Mann said. "Daw" is an honorific for women in Burmese.