Explainer | Aung San Suu Kyi, her NLD party and the Myanmar military that staged the coup
- The relationship between Suu Kyi and the country’s powerful military has deteriorated in recent years as the state counsellor sought to expand civilian control
- She sought to amend 2008 constitution guaranteeing military one-quarter of seats in parliament, prompting army leaders to reject results of November elections
HOW DID SUU KYI COME TO POWER?
Her father, Aung San, was a revolutionary who founded the country’s armed forces and spearheaded the push for independence from Britain. He was assassinated in 1947, just six months before independence. A former prime minister was tried and executed over the assassination, but the full extent of the plot remains a source of intrigue more than 70 years later.
His daughter, Suu Kyi, spent 20 years in and out of house arrest for her role as an opposition leader before she was released by the military in 2010.
The NLD, with Suu Kyi as general secretary, had previously won a general election in 1990 but the junta refused to accept the results. Her struggle for democracy earned her a Nobel Peace Prize and helped make her an international icon.
She eventually came to power after a landslide election win in 2015 and assumed the title of state counsellor – a de facto leadership position created to sidestep constitutional provisions barring her from the presidency.