Barack Obama has given a blunt assessment of the need for further reform in Burma’s move towards democracy during his visit to the country, speaking out over the treatment of religious minorities and a ruling that prevents the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president.

Aung San Suu Kyi, released four years ago after more than two decades of confinement, is a member of Burma’s parliament but is unable to run in next year’s presidential election because of a constitutional rule barring anyone with strong allegiances to a foreign national from standing for the presidency. Her sons are British, as was her late husband.

“I don’t understand a provision that would bar somebody from running for president because of who their children are,” Obama said, standing next to the opposition leader in a press conference at the lakeside home where she was kept under house arrest. “That doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Obama has been pressing Burma’s leaders to amend the constitution but has been careful not to directly endorse his fellow Nobel peace prize laureate as the country’s next president. He also raised an issue that has led to criticism of the opposition leader – her reluctance to address the abuse of minority Rohingya Muslims.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest US president Barack Obama meets Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a day trip to Rangoon.

“Discrimination against the Rohingya or any other religious minority I think does not express the kind of country that Burma over the long term wants to be,” Obama said. “Ultimately that is destabilising to a democracy.”

Aung San Suu Kyi opened the press conference by addressing reports of tension between the US and those working for democratic reforms in Burma. “We may view things differently from time to time but that will in no way affect our relationship,” she said.

Both warned against complacency in the move towards democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi described the process as going through “a bumpy patch”.

She said of her ineligibility to run for president that it was flattering to have a constitutional provision written with her in mind but it was “not how a constitution should be written”. The 69-year-old said she and her supporters were working to change it and welcomed Obama’s support.

“The constitution says all citizens should be treated as equals and this is discrimination on the grounds of my children,” she said.