Aung Sang Suu Kyi announces intent to make presidential run
Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech during the first National League for Democracy (NLD) Central Executive Committee meeting in Yangon on May 27, 2013.
YANGON – Myanmar political icon Aung Sang Suu Kyi announced her intention to run for president at the World Economic Forum in Naypyidaw today, expressing her hope for an amendment to the military-written constitution that currently bars her from running.
"I want to run for president and I'm quite frank about it," said Suu Kyi in a panel discussion, according to CNN.
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"If I pretended that I didn't want to be president, I wouldn't be honest and I would rather be honest with my people than otherwise," she added.
The next elections will be held in 2015, and the Nobel laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy is widely expected to win a democratic election, writes AFP.
Currently, a clause in the constitution states that candidates with spouses or children who are overseas citizens are barred from holding the top office — a prohibition that's widely believed to be directed at Suu Kyi, who was held prisoner by Myanmar's former military dictatorship for years.