Naypyidaw, Myanmar--Myanmar's President Thein Sein held rare talks Wednesday with influential allies and rivals including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she intensifies efforts to lift a constitutional ban on her presidential bid.
The long-awaited talks in the capital Naypyidaw, which follow a similar meeting of key political figures in October, come as the country braces for elections seen as a key test of reforms in the former junta-run nation.
The closed-door talks -- attended by the president, Suu Kyi, parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann and a few dozen other political figures -- touched on a landmark draft ceasefire agreement forged last week with several ethnic armed groups, Myanmar's Information Minister Ye Htut told reporters.
Discussions will resume on Friday and be whittled down to a smaller group of six participants, including Thein Sein and Suu Kyi, he added.
Changes to the constitution will be on Friday's agenda, "among many issues" including the signing of a binding nationwide ceasefire -- a prized aim of Thein Sein's administration.
The NLD is expected to hoover up votes in the election in November, the first countrywide vote that the party will have contested in 25 years.
Despite her star power, Suu Kyi is banned from the top job under a provision in the junta-era constitution barring those with a foreign spouse or children from the presidency. The 69-year-old's two sons are British, as was her late husband.
She has received a wide range of support, including from US President Barack Obama, for her move to change the constitution -- a charter she has decried as "unjust" and written specifically to keep her out of power.
But observers say she has accepted that it is unlikely she will be able to become president at this time.
AFP
