NAYPYITAW – Myanmar’s parliament elected a close friend and confidant of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as president on Tuesday, making Htin Kyaw the first head of state who does not hail from a military background since the 1960s.
Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide election win in November, but a constitution drafted by the former junta bars her from the top office.
She has vowed to run the country anyway through a proxy, and on Thursday the NLD nominated Htin Kyaw for the role.
He runs a charity founded by Suu Kyi and has been a trusted member of her inner circle since the mid-1990s. He is not a lawmaker.
Htin Kyaw received 360 votes of the 652 cast, the parliamentary official counting the votes said on Tuesday.
AFP, Reuters
