Why Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi Can Never Be President

Burma is about to hold a historic election that couldn’t have come to fruition without Aung San Suu Kyi. She is the pioneering political figure who lead the country’s democratic movement against Burma’s military junta — and who was put under house arrest for 20 years. She was released in 2010 and won a special election to the Burmese parliament but, regardless of her popularity, she can never become the president.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner explains to 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker that the military’s constitution prohibits people with foreign born relatives to be president. Suu Kyi married British historian Michael Aris (who died in 1999) and their two children (Alexander and Kim) are British. When Whitaker asks Suu Kyi if the law was written for her, she says, “Of course, I dare to say publicly and openly that that particular clause is written with me in mind.” Whitaker’s interview with Suu Kyi will air on 60 Minutes on October 25 at 7pm on CBS.