Myanmar Army chief endorses new President

Myanmar’s powerful Army Chief congratulated incoming President Htin Kyaw and pledged cooperation on Wednesday, after the ally of Aung San Suu Kyi was elected as the country’s first head of state with no military background in decades.

Ms 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 President, and on Tuesday the NLD-dominated parliament elected Htin Kyaw for the role. He runs a charity founded by Ms Suu Kyi and is a trusted member of her inner circle.

Ms Suu Kyi also thanked the millions of voters who handed her party a election win in November polls, the freest in generations.

“I don’t know how to properly express thanks to our people who have long peacefully supported the work of the NLD. I believe we can overcome all of the challenges we will have to face along with our people,” she said in a written statement.

Relations between the armed forces and Ms Suu Kyi will define the success of Myanmar’s most significant break from military rule since the Army seized power in 1962.

The armed forces hold a quarter of parliamentary seats and the constitutional right to nominate one of the three presidential candidates. The Army candidate, General Myint Swe (Retd), was elected first vice-president on Tuesday.

“It is hereby announced that the Tatmadaw takes pride in U. Htin Kyaw’s being elected as the President at the Second Union Parliament, and it will continue cooperating in every sectors for the emergence of peace, unity and development,” the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, said in a Myanmar-language post on Facebook.

Tatmadaw is the Myanmar language name for the military.

Min Aung Hlaing, who at the time of the historic vote was at a summit of Southeast Asian defence chiefs in Laos, issued the message several hours after the vote and long after outgoing President Thein Sein and representatives of other countries, including China and the United States, had extended their congratulations. In the run up to the vote, the military questioned the qualifications of both Htin Kyaw and an NLD candidate for vice president, Henry Van Thio.