Suu Kyi's former driver nominated for Myanmar president

Until some time ago, few had heard about the Htin Kyaw, the man now confirmed as the next president. A formerly  appointed driver to Aung San Suu Kyi, Kyaw, 69, a childhood friend and a close friend of Suu Kyi, was formally elected last week for the position by his party, the National League, for the democratic party elections.

On Tuesday, this was confirmed by a vote in parliament. Kyaw received 360 votes of the 652 cast, the parliamentary official counting the votes said on Tuesday.

Kyaw, the son of min Thu Wan, a respected author and poet who won a seat in the election in 1990, went to the same secondary school as Suu Ki in Yangon, before winning a scholarship to study at the University of London. He is a year younger than Suu Ki. His wife is a party lawmaker.

Suu Ki’s majority had allowed her to handpick a successor to the current President, Thein Sein, who implemented reforms in 2011, moving the country away from dictatorship.

When elected, he will be the first non-military president since the army took power in a 1962 coup. Suu Ki is barred from presidency by a military-drafted constitutio006E. But she has let it be known that she will be ‘above the president’ and Kyaw is expected to act as proxy.

Kyaw will be the first civilian president in 50 years.

Image: Central executive committee member of the National League for Democracy U Htin Kyaw arrives for the opening of the new parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Photograph: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters