Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pays homage to Buddhist monks at Kan Tat Kone monastery during a visit to Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar, on February 14, 2015. AFP
NAYPYIDAW - Myanmar's president will host rare talks with influential allies and rivals including Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday as the opposition leader intensifies efforts to lift a constitutional bar against her running for the presidency.
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 President's office director Zaw Htay said the discussion would likely include maintaining order around the elections, slated for November, as well as details of a landmark draft ceasefire deal agreed with multiple ethnic armed groups last week.
"There could be disagreement, it's impossible to be of one mind. But the more meetings there are, the more the talks can find common ground to benefit the people," he told AFP, adding that the army chief was expected to attend the meeting.
Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) confirmed she would attend the meeting but gave no other information about the talks, which are expected to begin at around 3:00 pm (0830 GMT).
"She will attend. But I don't know details like what she might discuss, or her priorities," NLD lawmaker Win Myint told AFP.
Star power
The NLD is expected to hoover up votes in November's election -- the first countrywide poll that the party has contested in almost three decades.
Despite her star power, Suu Kyi is barred 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 solicited a wide spectrum of support, including from US president Barack Obama, for her move to change the constitution, which she has described as "unjust" and written specifically to keep her out of power.
Observers say she has accepted that it is unlikely she will be able to become president at this time.
Last year the NLD gained five million signatures -- around 10 percent of the population -- in support of its bid to change another constitutional provision that enshrines the military's effective veto on any amendments by reserving them a quarter of parliamentary seats.
But the army has indicated it will oppose any efforts to significantly change the charter.
The NLD meanwhile has admitted the military veto meant it could not win a parliamentary vote on the issue.
The country's powerful parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann last year ruled out enacting any major changes to the constitution before the November polls, despite mooting a possible referendum on amendments approved by parliament as early as May.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma and ruled by the British until 1948, was plunged into isolation by a military regime that seized power in 1962.
It has won praise for enacting widespread economic and political reforms since it emerged from outright military rule in 2011, also drawing an influx of foreign investors to its untapped markets.
But there are growing concerns its transition towards democracy is backsliding in certain areas, including human rights and press freedom. - AFP
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