TEHRAN, March 28 - Myanmar’s parliament on Wednesday picked a close ally of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the country’s new president, a move unlikely to affect a delicate balance of power in a country where the army has retained a large political role.
TEHRAN,Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Win Myint, who a week ago resigned from his post as the lower house speaker, was chosen by both chambers of the parliament where Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party holds a comfortable majority.
The outgoing president, Htin Kyaw, who was also close to Suu Kyi, retired “in order to take rest from the current duties and responsibilities” amid visible weight loss and speculation over his health.
The election of the 66-year-old Win Myint, who is a life-long NLD member, is likely to mean a continuation of Suu Kyi’s dominance over the executive and little change to the course taken by her nearly two-year-old administration, lawmakers and analysts say.
Backed by Myanmar’s government, the Myanmarese military and Buddhist extremists launched a heavy-handed crackdown against the Muslim minority in Rakhine State in late 2016. That campaign intensified in August 2017.
Myanmar’s government troops have been committing killings, making arbitrary arrests, and carrying out arson attacks in Muslim villages in Rakhine.
About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the western state to Bangladesh since last August.
Source: Reuters, Press TV
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