ID :
158844
Thu, 02/03/2011 - 18:03
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Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/158844
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Myanmar parliament to elect president Friday
YANGON, Feb. 3 Kyodo - Myanmar's parliament will vote Friday morning to elect the president from among three nominees, parliamentary sources said Thursday.
The sources said the two nominees from the civilian side were chosen by parliament earlier in the day. The third nominee, from the military, was chosen later.
Prime Minister Thein Sein from junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won the vote in the lower house, defeating Saw Thein Aung, an ethnic Kayin from the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, while Sai Mauk Hkam, an ethnic Shan national from the USDP, won in the upper house over Aye Maung, an ethnic Rakhine from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.
Later in the day state television said the military-appointed members of both houses of parliament nominated Tin Aung Myint Oo, currently secretary of the junta and a USDP parliamentarian in the lower house.
On Friday, all parliamentarians from both houses of the legislature will together elect the president from among the three nominees, the parliamentary sources said.
The presidential electoral college comprises civilian parliamentarians elected from the lower house as one group, civilian parliamentarians elected from the upper house as another and the military parliamentarians from both houses as the third group.
Under the Constitution, the nominee who gets the most votes will become the president and the two other nominees will automatically become the two vice presidents.
The parliament opened Monday for upper and lower house members elected Nov. 7 last year, the first meeting of a parliament in Myanmar in 22 years. The USDP won 79 percent of the seats in the two houses in the November vote.
Thein Sein, 65, is a retired army general who gave up his military post in April last year to contest the parliamentary election. He is most prominent of the candidates, ranked fourth in the junta, and is considered a relative moderate.
Tin Aung Myint Oo retired from the army as a general last August and is considered a relative hardliner. He is the fifth-ranked junta member.
Sai Mauk Hkam has a civilian background.
On Monday, third-ranked junta leader Shwe Mann, a retired general who had been thought most likely to win the presidency, was elected speaker of the lower house.
In the upper house, retired major general and current cultural minister Khin Aung Myint was elected speaker.
The upper house speaker also becomes speaker of the Union Parliament for the first 30 months of the term according to the Constitution.
Of the 659 parliamentarians, 493 are elected as civilians and the other 166 are military officers chosen by junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
The country's main opposition group, the National League for Democracy led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is not represented in parliament as it boycotted the November elections on the grounds the military-drawn electoral laws were ''unfair and unjust.''
The NLD won the last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the junta refused to cede power.
The sources said the two nominees from the civilian side were chosen by parliament earlier in the day. The third nominee, from the military, was chosen later.
Prime Minister Thein Sein from junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won the vote in the lower house, defeating Saw Thein Aung, an ethnic Kayin from the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, while Sai Mauk Hkam, an ethnic Shan national from the USDP, won in the upper house over Aye Maung, an ethnic Rakhine from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.
Later in the day state television said the military-appointed members of both houses of parliament nominated Tin Aung Myint Oo, currently secretary of the junta and a USDP parliamentarian in the lower house.
On Friday, all parliamentarians from both houses of the legislature will together elect the president from among the three nominees, the parliamentary sources said.
The presidential electoral college comprises civilian parliamentarians elected from the lower house as one group, civilian parliamentarians elected from the upper house as another and the military parliamentarians from both houses as the third group.
Under the Constitution, the nominee who gets the most votes will become the president and the two other nominees will automatically become the two vice presidents.
The parliament opened Monday for upper and lower house members elected Nov. 7 last year, the first meeting of a parliament in Myanmar in 22 years. The USDP won 79 percent of the seats in the two houses in the November vote.
Thein Sein, 65, is a retired army general who gave up his military post in April last year to contest the parliamentary election. He is most prominent of the candidates, ranked fourth in the junta, and is considered a relative moderate.
Tin Aung Myint Oo retired from the army as a general last August and is considered a relative hardliner. He is the fifth-ranked junta member.
Sai Mauk Hkam has a civilian background.
On Monday, third-ranked junta leader Shwe Mann, a retired general who had been thought most likely to win the presidency, was elected speaker of the lower house.
In the upper house, retired major general and current cultural minister Khin Aung Myint was elected speaker.
The upper house speaker also becomes speaker of the Union Parliament for the first 30 months of the term according to the Constitution.
Of the 659 parliamentarians, 493 are elected as civilians and the other 166 are military officers chosen by junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
The country's main opposition group, the National League for Democracy led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is not represented in parliament as it boycotted the November elections on the grounds the military-drawn electoral laws were ''unfair and unjust.''
The NLD won the last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the junta refused to cede power.
