NAYPYITAW, Myanmar, June 6 (UPI) -- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi told an economic meeting Thursday she would like to run for president of Myanmar in two years.
But analysts say she has a huge handicap, the Los Angeles Times reported. The military junta created a constitutional barrier aimed specifically at Suu Kyi.
The constitution of the country, formerly known as Burma, says no one with foreign relatives can serve as president. Suu Kyi's late husband was a British citizen and their sons have British passports.
Suu Kyi told a panel at a World Economic Forum in Naypyitaw, the Myanmar capital, that she wants to run, the Times said.
"I want to run for president and I'm quite frank about it," she said. "If I pretended that I didn't want to be president, I wouldn't be honest and I would rather be honest with my people than otherwise."
While the military gave up its stranglehold on power in 2010, amending the constitution is extremely difficult. It requires the consent of 75 percent of the Legislature, a body with 25 percent of the seats reserved for the military.
But Suu Kyi appears hopeful popular pressure will help her.
"If you talk to the man on the street, if you talk to people in villages, the great majority of them would say that their lives have not changed since 2010," she said.
