In the first of three slated, high-level transition talks, yesterday Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann at his office in Nay Pyi Taw.

They discussed a road map for the protracted handover of power as the National League for Democracy prepares to take up the parliamentary reins next year following the party’s domination of the nationwide polls last week and the near-obliteration of the former ruling party.

The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker and the NLD chair met for over an hour in the morning, their second meeting since the election after an “informal” discussion last week.

After the meeting, they issued a joint statement pledging their agreement to continue working for the country and to ensure a peaceful transition through implementing the results of the election.

“The voice of the people is the voice of the parliament. The desire of the people is the desire of the parliament, and the parliament shall fulfill the hopes of the people,” the statement said, echoing the parliamentary motto.

The statement included three further “agreed” points, including to prioritise national reconciliation and national solidarity in forming the incoming parliament and finishing the duties of the remaining parliamentary sessions; to set a positive post-election precedent based on mutual respect; and to negotiate and coordinate in the next parliament in accordance with the law.

A presidential aspirant formerly tipped to be leading contender for the top-post due to his close working relations with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is herself constitutiontally barred from the job, Thura U Shwe Mann was ousted from leading the Union Solidarity and Development Party during an internal coup in August. In the election he overwhelmingly lost his Pyithu Hluttaw seat, outstripped by a former classmate and NLD member in their childhood hometown Pyu in Bago Region. Amid the NLD majority, U Shwe Mann is no longer thought to be in the running for the presidency, with NLD spokesperson U Win Htein saying such a pick would be “difficult for us to accept”.

Thura U Shwe Mann was the first to respond to invitations for reconciliation talks issued by the NLD leader, which were also extended to President U Thein Sein and Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The invitations were initially understood to be indicating four-way talks, but the president and the commander-in-chief have been loath to name a date, and have offered various reasons for the delay. The dallying has worried some analysts and foreign diplomats about the current regime’s genuine intent to oversee a smooth transition. Minister for Information U Ye Htut said the meeting with the president would occur at some point next month, and added that the event would not be particularly significant.

Yesterday’s meeting in Nay Pyi Taw was also attended by Pyidaungsu Hluttaw deputy speaker U Nanda Kyaw Zwar, Pyithu Hluttaw Bill Committee chair U T Khun Myat and Pyithu Hluttaw Rule of Law and Stability Committee secretary U Win Myint.

Following the meeting, yesterday afternoon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi held a closed-door discussion with 55 diplomatic representatives. Afterward, U Sai Boe Aung, a member of the Rule of Law and Stability Committee who was present, said they discussed “election and post-election affairs”, but would not go into great detail.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun