| Home > South-East Asia >> Burma | |
Burma names new president
Associated Press - February 5, 2011
Rangoon – Burma's Parliament named the premier of the outgoing military government as the country's new president Friday, handing a key junta member the top job in the post-election administration.
The appointment of Thein Sein, 65, was the latest step in Burma's self-declared transition to democracy following elections in November, but critics have slammed the process as a sham aimed at cementing military rule.
The military's delegates in Parliament and their civilian allies hold an 80 per cent majority in the new legislature, which handpicked the new president from a pool of three vice-presidents named on Thursday. Thein Sein is the most prominent of the three and was seen as a shoo-in for the head of government.
Upper house lawmaker Khin Shwe, contacted inside Parliament, said Thein Sein had won 408 out of 659 votes.
The future role of junta chief Than Shwe, who has wielded absolute power since 1992, remains unclear. But he is expected to remain a dominant force.
Under the 2008 Constitution that came into force last Monday with the opening of the Union Parliament, the president appoints the commander-in-chief, chief ministers of the regions and states and several Cabinet ministers.
The president has the authority to sever diplomatic relations with foreign countries with Parliament's approval, and grant pardons or amnesties with the recommendation of the National Defence and Security Council, of which he is head.
Thein Sein is a former general who served as the junta's prime minister from October 2007 and now heads the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won a huge majority in November's general election that much of the international community dismissed as rigged in favor of the junta.
He also has an image as a "clean" soldier, not engaged in corruption. Still, as prime minister and the fourth-ranking military leader in the junta, he previously did not have much decision-making power.
Members of the new president's political party described him as a moderate with political skills that went unnoticed in his previous job.
"Thein Sein is an avid reader and a good listener. He's a very patient man and very decisive. I believe he can do more for the welfare of the grassroots people, and I see him as a person who can help develop Myanmar's economy," said Khin Shwe, a business tycoon and lawmaker from Thein Sein's USDP party.
Vice-president and senior junta leader Tin Aung Myint Oo got 171 votes, Khin Shwe said. As No. 2, he would serve as acting president if Thein Sein's post became vacant due to resignation, death or any other cause.
He is a former lieutenant-general who, like Thein Sein, resigned his military post last year to run in election.
The country's next vice-president is Dr Sai Mauk Kham, a relatively unknown ethnic Shan doctor who runs a private clinic and is a member of the military-backed party. He received 75 votes in Friday's presidential run-off. The army has held power in Burma since 1962. There had been general curiosity in Burma about who would become the next president, but there was also a widespread perception that the military cheated in the election and that the new government would not bring democratic change.
The party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which won the previous election in 1990 but was blocked at the time from taking power by the military, boycotted November's vote, calling it unfair.
See also:
 |