Myanmar's new government is creating a powerful role for Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi's party is preparing a proposal to grant her a new, powerful position that will allow her more control over the government in Myanmar.
Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the landslide victory in the elections last year, making history by forming the Southeast Asian country's first civilian government in more than 50 years.
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Myanmar's military took power in a 1962 coup, and brutally suppressed pro-democracy uprisings during its rule.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, long regarded by many in the country as an icon of democracy and martyr for her cause, is prevented by the constitution from ascending to the presidency because she has children with foreign British passports. The clause was written into the constitution in 2008 by the military government.
The new "state counsellor" role for her is expected to be similar to that of prime minister, and will give her power over running the country.
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Local reports say the new government submitted the bill intended for debate in parliament on Friday, April 1. It's likely to go through; the bill will first need approval by parliament's upper house, before it moves to the lower house, and the NLD has majority seats in both chambers.
This move comes as no surprise. Suu Kyi has said that she intends to rule as the country's de facto leader, acting "above the president."
She already has four posts in the government, as minister of the president's office, foreign affairs, education and energy.
On Wednesday, her close aide 70-year-old Htin Kyaw was sworn in as the country's first democratically elected president in half a century.
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Additional information from The Associated Press.
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Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
