Top Suu Kyi aide set to bring back civilian rule in Myanmar
Myanmar lower house parliament speaker Win Myint (second left), Htin Kyaw (centre) and Myanmar pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (right) arrive at the lower house of parliament in Naypyidaw on March 11, 2016. Aung San Suu Kyi's party on March 10 nominated her close aide, Htin Kyaw, to be Myanmar's next president, as the Nobel laureate looks to rule her former junta-run homeland through a trusted proxy. PHOTO | YE AUNG THU |
What you need to know:
- Mr Htin Kyaw, a respected writer who helps run Ms Suu Kyi’s charitable foundation, was seen as the democracy veteran’s top choice to act as her proxy.
- One further vote of approval from the combined Houses is needed before he can officially be anointed leader of the nation that has been run by the military for decades.
- The Nobel laureate is beloved by many in Myanmar and remains the uncontested figurehead of the country’s long democracy struggle, but she is barred from the top political office by a junta-scripted constitution.
- She has vowed to rule “above” the next president as she strives to meet the soaring expectations of millions of voters who delivered her National League for Democracy a thundering election win in November.
- Mr Kyaw will now go up against two other candidates - an ethnic Chin MP Henry Van Theu, nominated by the NLD in the upper House, and a yet-to-be-named candidate chosen by the army, which still controls a significant slice of the government.
YANGON, Friday
A trusted aide of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday sailed through a lower House vote to be Myanmar’s presidential nominee, clearing a key hurdle to becoming the country’s first civilian leader in generations.
Mr Htin Kyaw, a respected writer who helps run Ms Suu Kyi’s charitable foundation, was seen as the democracy veteran’s top choice to act as her proxy.
One further vote of approval from the combined Houses is needed before he can officially be anointed leader of the nation that has been run by the military for decades.
“Htin Kyaw, the executive committee member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, has got the most supporting votes,” said lower House Speaker Win Myint.
Ms Suu Kyi was first to cast her ballot in an election that saw Mr Kyaw win support from across the party spectrum, winning 274 votes out of 317 in the lower House, which has 255 National League for Democracy MPs.
POPULAR FIGURE
The Nobel laureate is beloved by many in Myanmar and remains the uncontested figurehead of the country’s long democracy struggle, but she is barred from the top political office by a junta-scripted constitution.
She has vowed to rule “above” the next president as she strives to meet the soaring expectations of millions of voters who delivered her National League for Democracy a thundering election win in November.
Mr Kyaw will now go up against two other candidates - an ethnic Chin MP Henry Van Theu, nominated by the NLD in the upper House, and a yet-to-be-named candidate chosen by the army, which still controls a significant slice of the government.
But with Ms Suu Kyi’s backing and strong family ties to the NLD, Mr Kyaw is expected to clinch the top post with a comfortable lead. The two other candidates would then become vice-presidents.
Even the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar, which normally shies away from coverage of Ms Suu Kyi and her party, on Friday said because of the NLD majority Mr Kyaw “is favoured to ascend to the presidency, barring any irregularities in the process”.
Though he did not run in November’s polls, Mr Kyaw is a close confidante of Ms Suu Kyi and was at her side when she was released from years of house arrest in 2010.
He commands significant respect in Myanmar, partly because his father was a legendary writer and early member of the NLD.
Mr Kyaw is married to sitting NLD MP Su Su Lwin, whose late father was the party’s respected spokesman.
