Shake-up in Myanmar Politics Suu Kyi allies with Shwe Mann
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Shake-up in Myanmar Politics Suu Kyi allies with Shwe Mann
Myanmar’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday her opposition would ally with powerful ousted ruling party leader Shwe Mann, as the country’s political forces re-align in the biggest shake-up since the end of military rule.
President Thein Sein purged rival Shwe Mann and his allies from the Ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in dramatic fashion last week, just months before a landmark election.
“It is now clear who is the enemy and who is the ally,” Suu Kyi told reporters at the country’s parliament, when asked if Shwe Mann’s sacking had cost her an ally. “The National League for Democracy will work with the ally.”
She did not detail how they would work together. As chairman of the USDP, Shwe Mann sought to build ties with Suu Kyi, which sparked suspicion among some members of the ruling party and contributed to his sacking. The USDP is made up of many former military officers.
Shwe Mann had antagonised the military by backing Suu Kyi’s campaign to reform the constitution to limit the sway of the generals over Myanmar’s politics.
She is banned from the presidency under a constitution drafted by the military before it handed over power in 2011. The armed forces hold a veto over any charter changes.
Yesterday, Shwe Mann denied he had divided the country in a speech to the joint chambers of parliament. “I am not destroying party unity and stability,” he said.
Security forces surrounded the USDP compound late on Wednesday, locking down the building while the president’s allies met party leaders to remove Shwe Mann’s faction from the leadership committee.
“As for the happenings of the middle of the night, this is not what you expect from a working democracy,” Suu Kyi said.
In response, Information Minister Ye Htut told reporters at a news conference that police had a duty to respond to a request for protection made during the evening by the USDP.
Suu Kyi’s said the upheaval in the USDP was likely to benefit her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which would win more votes in the election.
Her party was already expected to win the most seats in the November ballot, seen as a crucial test of the country’s democratic reforms.
Concerns over the durability of those reforms were heightened last week by a media crackdown in the wake of Shwe Mann’s sacking. The scrapping of censorship in 2012 was one of boldest reforms of Thein Sein’s government.
