YANGON -- It was not supposed to be like this. Even as Myanmar marked a historic -- albeit flawed -- moment with the March 30 handover to the first civilian-led administration since 1962, a high-stakes game had commenced. Only a small, tight circle around Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's de facto leader, knew what was about to unfold. Despite leading her party to a sweeping victory in the November national elections, she remained barred by constitutional restrictions from taking the presidency -- and was determined to find a way around it.

True to her reputation for pushing the limits, Suu Kyi and her team played the game right up to the final handover, anointing her chosen "proxy president," Htin Kyaw, and meting out cabinet positions. These initially included four for Suu Kyi, despite declarations that she would be "above the president" and lead the government.

But beneath the pomp and ceremony of the handover, amid tight smiles and tense handshakes, her administration was poised to blindside the military, known as the Tatmadaw, with a carefully calibrated proposal to redraw the shape of government leadership.

Just a day after the ceremony, Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy unveiled proposed legislation to create the position of "state counselor," who would have prime ministerial-style powers and wield authority in both the executive and legislative branches.

Earlier, there were appearances of chaos, confusion and even incompetence within the NLD, not least due to exposes over bogus credentials of two key ministers. But the party maintained complete discipline and secrecy over its high-stakes gambit. "This kind of document is not drawn up overnight ... it takes time, it's clever -- and legally watertight," noted a Western diplomat.

Nevertheless, vehement objections by military leaders, some who claimed the move is "unconstitutional," prompted analysts to warn of the administration's first crisis. Those warnings appear unfounded, as the proposal is widely seen as within the bounds of the charter. Even so, military leaders are clearly unhappy, "perhaps dangerously so," added the diplomat. On April 5, ahead of parliament's recess for Myanmar's annual new year water festival, NLD lawmakers were set to push through the bill using their simple majority in both houses.

NLD insiders say there was "no choice" after months of frustrating negotiations between the party and the military. Despite her undisputed role as leader of the party, Suu Kyi is prevented from taking the presidency due to constitutional restrictions against nationals with foreign family. Her two sons have British citizenship. After failed efforts to persuade the generals to support amendment of the constitutional restrictions on Suu Kyi, the NLD opted for what one NLD adviser called "Plan B."

The military, through its allocation of 25% of parliamentary seats, holds veto power over constitutional changes -- which require a 75% "supermajority." It has firmly opposed Suu Kyi's proposal to amend the charter to enable her to be president. But the move to create a new position such as "state counselor" is a different proposition.

Crucially, the draft bill on the new position exploits a rare space in a charter finely crafted by the former junta in 2008 to enshrine a key role for the armed forces in politics. Even so, the ruling party under the constitution can create new ministries or equivalent positions if approved by a simple majority in parliament. Highlighting another vulnerability for the military, the Tatmadaw has no representatives on the nine-member Constitutional Tribunal, which is appointed by the president and is the arbiter of disputes over constitutional matters.

Military-appointed parliamentarians boycotted the April 5 vote on the bill, which easily passed, after claiming that the proposal would be unconstitutional as it blurred the divisions between the executive and legislative branches.

In the eyes of NLD supporters, the move was a masterstroke to reconfigure the upper echelons of government while avoiding arguments over constitutional amendment. Above all, the process has highlighted a gaping hole in an otherwise cleverly balanced power-sharing arrangement set in the 2008 constitution. The former dictator Than Shwe, while obsessed with the power balance, never envisaged a scenario whereby the NLD controlled both the Constitutional Tribunal and so much of parliament, noted another diplomat.

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON?

But victory in this tense game of one-upmanship is different from fighting the longer-term battle, and some critics -- even those who support the NLD -- suggest it is too soon to antagonize the powerful military. "Why wave a red flag at the military bull, why rile the military now? It has already struggled to accept an enormous change -- the rout of their ruling party," noted one Western diplomat.

Indeed, according to Khin Zaw Win, a prominent commentator and former political prisoner, this could well be a "post too far" for the NLD leader. "Aiming to become 'paramount leader' in Myanmar is not only setting a dangerous precedent, it can be downright disastrous for the country," he told the Myanmar Times on April 4. "It is far more prudent just to do the obvious; that is, to get down to putting a country in order after the chaos of a failed dictatorship," he added.

Others are more sanguine. "There will be some posturing and sulking from the military and others, but I doubt it would lead to an actual constitutional crisis," said a Yangon-based academic researcher. "Nobody can argue it is 'unconstitutional.'" Still others say that if compromise is required, an acceptable solution for all sides might be to put the counselor position on par with the two vice presidents, although that would not satisfy Suu Kyi's desire to control the cabinet as well as direct parliament.

Suu Kyi riled the military and others by initially taking four cabinet positions -- foreign affairs, education, energy and electric power, and minister in charge of the president's office, a key post under previous President Thein Sein. She also disappointed those who were hoping for greater inclusion in her cabinet, including women.

Under the new configuration, in anticipation of her role as state counselor, Suu Kyi on April 4 handed over two of her ministerial portfolios -- education and energy -- to new ministers, while remaining foreign minister and head of the president's office. The two new ministers, both career bureaucrats and both male -- adding to her all-male cabinet -- were named on April 5, bringing the new cabinet to 20 members.

As for the Tatmadaw, while it will recognize any changes that are within the bounds of the constitution, it is clearly unhappy. With its iron hold on key portfolios that give it control of the police, prisons, defense and numerous other fields, that could mean it can make life harder for the NLD. "The NLD and the Tatmadaw need each other," noted one of the Western diplomats. "It seems unwise to declare war now ... ."

The latest moves will fuel tensions in an already fraught and delicate relationship. The military's bottom line was laid out in a little-reported speech by the commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to the Defense Services Academy on March 9, in which he stated that the status quo would be maintained for at least another five years and "any undertaking that would alter the present situation will not be accepted."

"The Tatmadaw has steadfastly held on to the multiparty system for five years and progress has also been made. During the next, second, five-year phase, deviating from the present situation will not be accepted," Min Aung Hlaing said in a post that appeared on his official Facebook page after the speech.

He has already been challenged by the NLD's latest moves and, as Myanmar expert and author David Steinberg observed, "by testing the limits of her power, Suu Kyi may have increased mutual distrust and ultimately jeopardized her strategic interests."