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Historic vote begins in Myanmar parliament for new president Burma's new democratic parliament selects first civilian president in a half century
(about 1 hour later)
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — Myanmar’s parliament voted Tuesday to elect the country’s new president, a watershed moment that will usher the longtime opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi into government. RANGOON — Burma’s parliament on Tuesday chose Htin Kyaw, a longtime adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, as president of the first civilian government in the Southeast Asian nation in decades.
Htin Kyaw, 70, a longtime confidant of Suu Kyi, is expected to become the country’s first democratically elected leader after more than half a century of military rule. Htin Kyaw, 69, an executive committee member of a Suu Kyi-led foundation, will be sworn in on March 30 at a crucial time in Burma’s history, as the country shifts from military-backed government to a civilian one lead by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.
The new president takes office on April 1, following Tuesday’s vote by 652 members of parliament. Five lawmakers were absent from the 657-seat bicameral legislature. Htin Kyaw is a tall, quiet man often photographed at the side of Suu Kyi, Burma’s revered leader known as “Mother Suu.”
Htin Kyaw is among three final candidates whose names appeared on the ballot. He spent much of his career working as one of her top advisers, supporting her during more than 15 years of house arrest, before shifting over to head the charitable foundation named for her mother in 2012. He was detained by Burma’s military junta in 2000 while attempting to accompany her on a trip outside of Rangoon.
Given the lawmakers lack of experience with voting, the parliament speaker opened the session by explaining how to vote. Analysts say that the generals will be a priority for Htin Kyaw and Aung San Suu Kyi as they move forward in the coming weeks. The military hold outsized power in Burma, with key ministries and vast business holdings still under their control. They vetoed an effort by Suu Kyi to circumvent a constitutional provision that bars her serving as president.
“On the ballot paper, there are three names. If you support one of the names, you tick it — or if you object cross it out,” speaker Mann Win Khaing Than told the lawmakers. “That’s how you have to vote. And then put it in the ballot box.” “It’s going to be a very, very critical relationship,” said Priscilla A. Clapp, senior advisor to the U.S. Institute of Peace who served as chief of mission and charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Burma from 1999 to 2002.
The speaker called on lawmakers by row to come forward to cast ballots one-by-one at the front of the parliament. The military wing of parliament, whose seats are guaranteed by the constitution, chose a retired lieutenant general seen as a hardliner as their choice for first vice president that was confirmed Tuesday.
Suu Kyi, sitting in the front row, cast her vote first, dropping her yellow piece of paper into a box with glass sides visible to all. Retired Lieutenant General Myint Swe formerly ran the military’s intelligence bureau and clamped down on student protesters last year while serving as chief minister of Rangoon, also known as Yangon. He is among several Burmese companies and businessmen who are barred from doing business with U.S. citizens by the U.S. Treasury.
Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy party to a sweeping victory in Nov. 8 elections, a reflection of the widespread public support she earned during her decades-long struggle for democracy in Myanmar which was ruled for half a century by a military junta. State Department spokesman John Kirby reiterated the U.S. position on the military reservation in parliament last week, calling it one of the “structural and systemic flaws in Burma’s constitution.”
The Nobel laureate and longtime political prisoner is the party’s unquestionable leader but is blocked from becoming president because of a constitutional clause that excludes anyone with a foreign spouse or children. Suu Kyi’s two sons are British, as was her late husband. The clause is widely seen as having been written by the military with Suu Kyi in mind. “We want to see the democratic transition move forward,” he said. “We have conveyed our concerns about to Burmese leaders, and we’re just – we’re going to continue to watch this.”
To assume the top post in her place, the NLD nominated Suu Kyi’s trusted friend and adviser Htin Kyaw, the son of a national poet and the son-in-law of a founding member of the country’s pro-democracy movement. The second vice president chosen was Henry Van Thio, who is a member of Parliament from Suu Kyi’s party, a Christian and the country’s Chin ethnic minority.
Myanmar’s electoral system requires that the president be chosen from candidates put forward by each of the two houses of parliament, and a third nominee from the military, which retains a quarter of the legislative seats. The new president inherits a country of 51 million with jarring poverty, creaking infrastructure and dismal schools and health care. Its economy grew at more than 8 percent last year but is expected to moderate, according to the World Bank. Burma, also known as Myanmar, remains one of the poorest country in Asia.
The candidate with the most votes becomes president and the other two become vice presidents. The other nominees are NLD lawmaker Henry Van Tio and the military’s candidate, Myint Swe, a hard-line retired lieutenant general whose nomination raised concerns about the future of a power-sharing relationship with the NLD. Despite a high-profile peace accord with the armed ethnic militias in November, fighting has continued in Burma’s border areas. The country has hundreds of thousands who have been displaced in conflict areas, as well as an estimated 140,000 Rohingya Muslims who have been living in camps since clashes with their Buddhist neighbors in 2012.
Myint Swe is seen as a close ally of former junta leader Than Shwe and remains on a U.S. State Department blacklist that bars American companies from doing business with several tycoons and senior military figures connected with the former junta. Eaint Thiri Thu contributed to this story.
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