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Suu Kyi issues talks deadline to Myanmar's military chief
Sydney Morning Herald - November 11, 2015
Days before the poll results are expected to be formally declared, Ms Suu Kyi seized the initiative, telling army commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing that "citizens have expressed their will in the election".
"I would like you to discuss national reconciliation next week at a time of your convenience," she wrote in a letter released by her National League for Democracy (NLD).
Letters calling for meetings were also sent to President Thein Sein, whose ruling party has been decimated at the polls, and the influential parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, who has lost his seat in parliament.
Ms Suu Kyi has expressed the hope that US President Barack Obama will make a surprise stopover in Myanmar next week to endorse her victory.
Rescheduling Mr Obama's visit to South-east Asia to include Myanmar would send a powerful message to the country's military that they must allow a peaceful transfer of power.
According to sources close to the NLD, the party has held talks with US officials about the possibility of Mr Obama being the fist world leader to personally congratulate Ms Suu Kyi.
Mr Obama is set to visit the Philippines for a summit of leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and later to fly to Malaysia for a summit of East Asian leaders.
Two years ago Mr Obama became the first US president to visit Myanmar in a show of confidence in the opening-up of the country.
NLD officials believe the party has won up to 80 per cent of votes across the country that was ruled for half a century by despotic army generals before they allowed a transfer of power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011.
Key sections of Myanmar's bureaucracy remain under the control of generals, who according to the constitution automatically hold 25 per cent of seats in parliament and appoint important security ministries.
Yangon-based analyst Richard Horsey, a consultant with the International Crisis Group, said Ms Suu Kyi will need to collaborate with the military founded by her father, independence hero Aung San.
"It will be impossible to administer the country without having the Home Ministry on their side, and that means ultimately the commander-in-chief of the military," Mr Horsey said.
The army refused to accept a landslide NLD victory in 1990 and implemented a brutal crackdown that kept Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years.
As vote counting dragged on, Ms Suu Kyi reiterated that she plans to run the government above the presidency, having been barred from that office under an army-drafted constitution.
But 70-year-old Ms Suu Kyi said last week "I do not believe in persecution and revenge".
She told reporters the election had been "largely free" but there had been incidents of intimidation, adding she was worried election officials were releasing votes "piece by piece". "It shouldn't be like that... they are trying to be crooked," she said.
But stronger complaints about irregularities are emerging from the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was decimated in the election, with many of its ministers and top officials thrown out of their seats, including powerful generals.
USDP chairman Htay Oo admitted defeat in key electorates. "We had a much bigger loss in this election than we expected," he said.
European Union election monitors described the organisation of Sunday's voting as "very positive".
The Carter Centre, a team of election observers led by former US president Jimmy Carter's grandson, said it found the voting and counting process to be generally well conducted but noted problems including voting bans on members of the country's minority Rohingya community and inconsistencies in making preliminary results available at constituency level.
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