The Burmese opposition leader, on an official trip to Europe, speaks of 2015 presidential elections. The Nobel Laureate wants to run, but current law blocks her application . Today she will address EU foreign ministers, tomorrow will receive the Sakharov Prize won in 1990 at the time of military repression .

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.

 

 

• EUROPEAN
• UNION
• -
• MYANMAR
• Aung
• San
• Suu
• Kyi
• constitution
• elections
• democracy
• human
• rights