Myanmar parliament rejects amendment to allow Suu Kyi to become president

Myanmar’s MPs rejected on Wednesday a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to officially become president.

The proposal was opposed by the military, which under the constitution adopted when it held power, holds enough parliamentary seats to block any constitutional change.

The defeated motion was one of several constitutional changes proposed by Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy party, AP reports.

Suu Kyi holds executive power in the government because of a legal loophole that allowed the creation of the post of state counselor. Under the arrangement the actual president – a member of her party – defers to her. Suu Kyi was an ardent critic of military rule during her decades-long Nobel Peace prize-winning nonviolent struggle for democracy.