Suu Kyi party welcomes US support on Myanmar reforms

Myanmar's opposition today welcomed a US call for voters to have a free choice over their next president, amid efforts to change rules that bar Aung San Suu Kyi from standing.
The US State Department urged reforms to ensure Myanmar's people could "freely choose their president", in a statement responding to concerns that the army-affiliated ruling party would use its majority to quash amendments to the constitutional clause which currently bars Suu Kyi.
A spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) said Washington's support was a positive sign.
But he warned of hurdles ahead as the party strives to amend the military-drafted charter before 2015 parliamentary elections seen as a key test of Myanmar's democratic transition.

"We welcome their calls. But there could be many legal problems before it can be implemented in practice," Nyan Win told AFP.
The NLD is widely expected to win the majority of seats in next year's poll, if the vote is free and fair.

The president is chosen by parliament and Suu Kyi has indicated that she would like to stand.
But the former political prisoner is ineligible under the 2008 constitution, which prohibits anyone whose spouse or children are overseas citizens from leading the country.
Many suspect the clause was added by the then-ruling generals deliberately to exclude Suu Kyi. She was married to a now-deceased British academic and their two sons are British.

Nyan Win said a change to the clause -- known as section 59F -- could only be implemented if the government and parliament agree to amend it before the election.
He added that a parliamentary committee tasked with making recommendations on constitutional reform was believed to be still deliberating 59F, after reports emerged that the ruling party-dominated body had voted to leave the provision unchanged.
The State Department said it would continue its discussions with the Myanmar government and "key stakeholders as they work to develop their final recommendations on constitutional changes".