Myanmar parliament elects Suu Kyi loyalist as new president

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s parliament on Wednesday elected Win Myint, a loyalist of Aung San Suu Kyi, as new president, while Suu Kyi retained her executive authority over the government.

The vote comes as Suu Kyi’s civilian government has struggled to implement peace and national reconciliation, with the powerful military still embroiled in combat with ethnic rebels and under heavy international criticism for its brutal counterinsurgency campaign against the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Myanmar’s military ruled the country for a half-century during which it was accused of widespread abuses before partially handing power to a civilian government in 2016. It remains in charge of security matters and still faces accusations of rights abuses.

Win Myint, the vice president selected as presidential candidate by the lower house and backed by Suu Kyi’s ruling party, received 403 votes from the combined houses. Myint Swe, the vice president with the military’s backing, had 211 votes and Henry Van Tio, the vice president selected by the upper house, had 18.

Like his predecessor, Htin Kyaw, who retired last week due to ill health, Win Myint, 66, is a longtime Suu Kyi loyalist and a stalwart member of her National League for Democracy, an affiliation that earned him a brief spell as a political prisoner more than two decades ago under the previous military government.

Having been both a member of the NLD’s Central Executive Committee and speaker of the lower house for two years shows Win Myint holds the skills to be president, said Win Zaw, a lower house lawmaker from the party.

Win Myint, who resigned as speaker of the lower house last week, was a successful parliamentary candidate in the 1990 general election, which was invalidated by the military, denying him his seat. He was elected in 2012 and again in 2015.