Govt, NLD in handover spat

NAY PYI TAW: Aung San Suu Kyi’s party said yesterday that outgoing Myanmar President Thein Sein was snubbing part of their handover ceremony plans, as tensions over the looming political transition begin to pervade even logistical arrangements.

A sweeping win in November elections trouncing Thein Sein’s army-backed party has given Ms Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) their first chance in a generation to form a government.

Thein Sein, whose quasi-civilian government is credited with steering the country from outright military rule, will end his fiveyear term later this month and there will be a ceremonial handover of power to a new leader who is yet to be named.

The president sought t o appear magnanimous in defeat in November, but there have been recent signs of tensions with a new NLD-led parliament that took its seats in February.

NLD spokesman Win Htein indicated the location of the handover ceremony was the latest cause for contention between the government and the incoming party.

“The government sent a proposal to hold the power handover ceremony at the presidential palace. But we want to hold the ceremony in the parliament because the president is chosen in the parliament,” he said yesterday.

“President Thein Sein will not attend the ceremony which will be held in the parliament but he will meet the new president and handover the power at the presidential palace,” he said.