緬甸總統召集各黨派開會

Myanmar President Thein Sein has called for a landmark meeting with representatives of the country's military, top political parties and ethnic minority groups.

The summit to be held Friday in the capital, Naypyidaw, will bring together six political parties, including that of longtime democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The meeting, the first of its kind, comes amid tensions as Myanmar, also known as Burma, emerges from decades of direct military rule.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, has been pushing for constitutional changes that would limit the power of the military.

The NLD is expected to perform well during parliamentary elections, which will occur in late October or early November of next year.

It will be the country's second general election since a nominally civilian government took power in 2011 and enacted a series of political and economic reforms.

The reforms have been lauded by the country's opposition leaders, foreign governments and rights groups. But many still complain that the constitution bars Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency, since her late husband and two sons are British.

The constitution also ensures that the military retains at least 25 percent of seats in parliament.緬甸總統吳登盛召集軍方，各政黨領導人和少數民族團體代表舉行歷史性會談。

會議將於星期五在首都內比都舉行，資深民主領袖昂山素季等六個黨派的代表將與會。

緬甸正在走出數十年軍人的直接統治，因此也引發了一些緊張關係。緬甸是首次舉行這樣的會議。

昂山素季領導的政黨“全國民主聯盟”長期以來致力於推動憲法改革，限制軍方的權力。

預計，全國民主聯盟將在明年10月底或11月初的議會選舉中獲得好的成績。

這將是緬甸名義上文官政府2011年掌權，施行一系列政治經濟改革以來，緬甸舉行的第二次大選。

這些改革受到緬甸反對黨領袖，外國政府和人權團體的讚許。但是很多人仍抱怨緬甸的憲法由於昂山素季已故的丈夫和兩個兒子是英國人而禁止昂山素季參選總統。

緬甸憲法還規定，要確保軍方在議會中佔有至少25%的席位。