Former Burmese president steps down as political party chief

Former Burmese president Thein Sein, 71, has stepped down as chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, nine months after losing the elections and handing over the reins of the government to Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, media reports said Wednesday.

Thein Sein, who spearheaded Myanmar’s transition from a military dictatorship to democracy, will be succeeded by 61yearold Than Htay, chosen by the party’s central committee during the national convention, which is being held this week in Naypyidaw, according to the Myanmar Times daily.

Than Htay, a retired brigadiergeneral, was energy minister between 2011 and 2013 and transport minister between 2013 and 2015.

The former president will now hold a post similar to that of an honorary chairman, the daily added.

The shakeup is being viewed by local analysts as a move to restore unity in the country’s second largest party following its split into two factions, with the other faction being headed by Shwe Mann, one of the other generals chosen by the last military junta to lead the transition.

Mann was Parliament speaker between 2011 and 2016 and assumed leadership of the Union Solidarity and Development Party in 2013.

However, differences with Thein Sien, along with his decision to present himself as the presidential candidate and his growing closeness to Suu Kyi, led to Mann’s dismissal as party chairman in August 2015 and subsequent expulsion in April 2016, along with 17 supporters.

Myanmar’s first democratic government, led by Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, was sworn in this year following 49 years of military rule and a fiveyear transition period.