Myanmar set to become a democracy today, but Suu Kyi will not be president

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s decades-long battle to bring democracy to Myanmar is likely to come to fruition today, but with a whimper, not a bang

Naypyita (Myanmar): Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s decades-long battle to bring democracy to Myanmar is likely to come to fruition today, but with a whimper, not a bang. Despite leading her party to a smashing election victory last year, she seems certain on not becoming her country’s leader.

Aung Saan Suu Kyi. Pic/AFP

The new president is virtually certain to be from Suu Kyi’s party, since it holds majorities in both chambers of parliament, giving it not only the right to make two nominations but the numbers to pick the winner.

The president will become known today, when the upper and lower houses of parliament and the military bloc that holds 25 per cent of seats will nominate their presidential candidates. But until those nominations, virtually no one outside of Suu Kyi’s inner circle knows who will be the country’s next leader.

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