President U Thein Sein has called political parties to a meeting in Yangon on November 15 to discuss the post-election political situation, party sources say.
U Nay Min Kyaw, secretary of National Democratic Force (NDF), said that an invitation letter sent to the party stated that the president would discuss “current affairs and developments”.
The letter follows the president’s offering of congratulations to the National League for Democracy in the November 8 national election and his acceptance of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s offer of talks, which will likely be held next week. No official date has been set for the requested talks with the president, the commander-in-chief and the parliamentary Speaker, however, the President’s Office yesterday confirmed that the meeting could only occur after the election results are completed.
U Zaw Htay, director of the President’s Office, declined to comment on the president’s invitation to meet with parties on November 15.
U Nay Min Kyaw said he expected the transition period would be the focus of the November 15 meeting, which will take place at the Yangon Region government office.
Officials from Myanmar Peace Center confirmed the meeting with the parties to The Myanmar Times.
Separately, yesterday more than 70 political parties attended a meeting at the peace centre during which they were informed about how they could be involved in the ongoing peace process.
“They said parties have roles to play in the framework crafting as well as in the dialogue,” U Nay Min Kyaw said.
U Min Zaw Oo, a director at the peace centre, said the parties should all be included in the process.
“Since the political dialogue is a nationwide issue, we cannot leave political parties behind,” he said.
The political parties will also have to participate in the drafting of a framework for political dialogue with eight ethnic armed groups that signed a nationwide ceasefire agreement on October 15. The dialogue is due to start by January 15, while under the terms of the ceasefire framework needs to be agreed upon by December 15.
A 16-membered bloc in the Union Political Dialogue Joint Committee, which also features representatives of the government, military and armed ethnic groups, has been left for political parties.
The parties are scheduled to meet on November 21 to begin the process of selecting their 16 representatives.
A National League for Democracy spokesperson expressed concerns over how political parties will be selected for the committee, and suggested if quotas are used then the election results need to be factored into the calculation.
U Win Htein, a senior NLD official, said the number of parties should be based on the “post-election context” – presumably a reference to the NLD’s massive majority in parliament.
“It is not fair if we are considering only the basis of the political context before the elections,” he said.
U Min Zaw Oo said neither the MPC nor the government would interfere with the formation of the committee, which will have to be solely done by parties.
“They will have to form a committee of 16 members by themselves,” he said.
