The 66-year-old politician was previously the Speaker of the Lower House. He resigned from office on the same day Htin Kyaw announced his resignation as head of state and two days later he was elected vice president. Like many other political activists, he has been arrested several times by the previous military regime. Corruption, rule of law and territorial conflicts at the heart of his mandate.
Naypyitaw (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Myanmar Parliament has elected Win Myint as the new president of the Union (photo). He is the tenth head of state since the independence of the country and the second civilian to hold the post since the military coup in 1962 after Htin Kyaw, who resigned March 21 for health reasons.
The 66-year-old politician was previously the Speaker of the Lower House since February 2016, following the victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (Ndl) in the2015 general election. Win Myint resigned from office the same day in Htin Kyaw announced his resignation and two days later was elected vice president, as part of the process of becoming president.
According to analysts, Win Myint will reorganize and energize the government, which has received criticism on the slow pace of implementation of political and economic reforms, as well as the growing criticism from the international community for the management of the crisis in Rakhine.
A long-time member of the NLD, Win Myint is considered a trusted man by the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is forbidden to take the presidency under the 2008 military constitution.
Born in 1951in Danubyu, in the Irrawaddy delta, Win Myint studied geology at the University of Yangon before devoting himself to the study of Jurisprudence in the eighties. He worked as a lawyer in 1988, when protests for democracy broke out at national level, leading to the founding of the NLD, which he later joined.
Win Myint has enjoyed electoral success on three occasions: in the 1990 general election, in the 2012 election and in the last general elections of 2015. However, achieving these successes was not easy. Like many other political activists, he was arrested several times by the previous military regime. Detained at the time when his only son became seriously ill, he rejected the offer of military intelligence to visit his son, on his deathbed, in exchange for his renunciation of politics.
Win Myint became a member of the NLD Central Executive Committee in 2010. He also served as secretary of the Committee on the Rule of Law, Peace and Tranquillity of the Council of Ministers chaired by Aung San Suu Kyi, who at the time was a parliamentarian elected for represent the Kawmu district of Yangon. Because of his long experience in legal and political affairs, the election of Win Myint raises hopes and expectations. The Burmese people expect him to work effectively on corruption, the rule of law and territorial conflicts, as he himself declared when he was the Speaker of the House.