President calls talks with parties, army
Myanmar's president has called an unprecedented summit of army top brass and political rivals including Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, politicians said yesterday, a year ahead of crucial elections.
The talks, scheduled for today in the capital Naypyidaw, are the first of their kind in the country as it attempts to emerge from the shadow of decades of outright military rule.
Experts say the meeting marks a critical juncture with the 2015 elections seen as a key test of democratic reforms under President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government.
Confirming the talks, Khin Maung Swe, chairman of the National Democratic Force party, said the meeting will cover "democratic reforms, peace and (the) transition period".
It comes just days after Myanmar's election authorities announced the upcoming poll would be held in the last week of October or the first week of November 2015.
Myanmar has promised the vote will be the freest in the country's modern history after the military ceded direct power to a quasi-civilian government three years ago.
The meeting also follows heated parliamentary debates over constitutional and electoral reform, as well as pervasive jitters that the government, which is dominated by former junta generals, may find a reason to delay next year's poll.
Myanmar's last general elections in 2010 were marred by widespread accusations of cheating and were held without the NLD or Suu Kyi, who was kept under lock and key until days after the vote.
Thein Sein has since surprised the international community with a number of dramatic reforms that have seen international sanctions removed as the country opens up to the world.
Most political prisoners have been freed, Suu Kyi has entered parliament and the government has set its sights on ending multiple civil wars with armed ethnic minority rebels.
But the country still faces a myriad of challenges -- including ongoing armed rebellions, an opaque legal system, creaking infrastructure and significant poverty levels -- that will need to be tackled by any new government after next year's election.
Suu Kyi's party is expected to win a major slice of the legislature in that vote and parliament will then select a president.
The party won almost every seat available in the 2012 by-elections that saw the democracy veteran become an MP for the first time.
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