Aung San Suu Kyi urged 12 newly elected state and regional parliamentary speakers and vice speakers from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party on Monday to steer clear of corruption and not to let down the Myanmar people, a National League for Democracy (NLD) party spokesman said.
The NLD chairwoman held the private meeting in her parliamentary office in Naypyidaw, but excluded speakers and vice speakers who represent western Myanmar’s Rakhine state and northern Shan state, NLD spokesman Win Htein told reporters after the meeting.
“The party chair met with speakers and deputy speakers from 12 state and regional parliaments, excluding those from Rakhine and Shan states, informed them of future policy trends and how to approach them, and especially urged them to stay away from corruption so as to not disappoint the people,” he said.
Win Htein said there was no discussion about who would be elected as political leaders of the states and regions.
It is believed that Aung San Suu Kyi discussed the establishment of a committee of the NLD’s speakers and their deputies, according to a report by Eleven Myanmar media group.
A separate meeting of the Myanmar Parliament Union for Speakers and their deputies from across the country will be held on Tuesday in Naypyidaw, the report said.
Myanmar is divided into seven states and seven divisions whose governments consist of a unicameral, partially-elected parliament, executive in the form of a chief minister, and a cabinet of state or regional ministers and judicial institutions. Chief ministers are selected by the country’s president from elected or appointed parliamentarians.
The meeting comes in the run-up to the NLD’s formal assumption of political power on April 1, after winning more than 80 percent of the vote in national elections last November.
But before then, lawmakers must nominate and vote for candidates to replace current president Thein Sein of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and his two vice presidents.
Aung San Suu Kyi cannot become president under the current constitution which bars anyone with close foreign relatives from holding the office. Aung San Suu Kyi’s two sons are British citizens, as was her late husband.
Although she has not named the candidate that her party will put forward, she has stated publicly that she will occupy a position above the president.
Reported by Myo Thant Khaing and Win Ko Ko Lat. Translated by Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.