Suu Kyi’s candidates for Myanmar president pass the first test

The upper and lower houses of the Burmese parliament on Friday chose as presidential nominees Htin Kyaw and Henry Van Thoi, candidates vetted by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party.

It is expected that Myanmar’s Armed Forces will propose their candidate early next week, when the nominations for the presidential elections will be concluded.

In a plenary session held next week, the parliament is to decide who will become the next Myanmar president for the next five years.

Kyaw, elected by the lower house and Thoi,chosen by the upper house, met the expectations of today since the National League for Democracy has a majority in both legislative bodies after its landslide election win on Nov. 8, 2015.

Members of the Armed Forces, who have a quarter of seats reserved in the parliament under the 2008 Constitution, did not participate in the nominations since the military has its own candidate.

Given that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy holds 78.9 percent in the lower house and 80.4 percent in the upper house, it is expected that the next state head will be Htin Kyaw, a close ally of Suu Kyi.

The two losing candidates will become the vice presidents of the country.

Suu Kyi, 70, who underwent 15 years of house arrest during the military dictatorship, would have been selected for the role but is barred from the position owing to the 2008 Constitution.

The last military junta drafted and approved a clause in the constitution that prevents Suu Kyi from ever becoming the head of state, while granting the armed forces enough legislators to arbitrate against any constitutional amendments.

According to the controversial clause, a Burmese person married to a foreigner or who has children of other nationalities cannot become the country’s president.

Suu Kyi, widowed by the British professor Michael Aris in 1999, is the mother of two sons Alexander and Kim who hold British passports.

Myanmar was governed by military regimes from 1962 to 2011.

If elected, Kyaw will become the first civilian elected president in 54 years, succeeding current president Thein Sein, a general who was the first prime minister of the last military junta.