Suu Kyi loyalist confirmed for Myanmar presidential race

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2016 file photo, National League for Democracy party (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark Myanmar's 68th anniversary of Independence in Yangon, Myanmar. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi’s decades-long battle to bring democracy to Myanmar is likely to come to fruition on Thursday, March 10 with a whimper, not a bang. Despite leading her National League for Democracy party to a smashing election victory, Suu Kyi seems certain not to become her country's leader. Suu Kyi, 70, cannot be president because the constitution bars anyone with a foreign spouse or children from holding the executive office. Suu Kyi's two sons are British, as was her late husband. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File) FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2016 file photo, National League for Democracy party (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark Myanmar's 68th anniversary of Independence in Yangon, Myanmar. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi’s decades-long battle to bring democracy to Myanmar is likely to come to fruition on Thursday, March 10 with a whimper, not a bang. Despite leading her National League for Democracy party to a smashing election victory, Suu Kyi seems certain not to become her country's leader. Suu Kyi, 70, cannot be president because the constitution bars anyone with a foreign spouse or children from holding the executive office. Suu Kyi's two sons are British, as was her late husband. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

By Associated Press March 11, 2016 4 min read

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) – A longtime confidante of Aung San Suu Kyi was confirmed Friday in a parliamentary vote as one of the three final candidates to be Myanmar’s next president, albeit as a proxy for the Nobel laureate.

Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy party was approved by a 274-29 vote in the lower house of parliament to be a finalist for the presidential election next week.

A second NLD candidate. Henry Van Tio, was chosen as the second finalist by the upper house with a 148-13 vote. A third candidate will be put forward by the military bloc, which has a constitutionally mandated 25 percent of reserved seats in parliament.

Legislators from both houses of parliament will hold another round of voting – for which no date has been set – to choose one of them as president, which almost certainly will be the 70-year-old Htin Kyaw (pronounced Tin CH-yaw). The other two will become vice presidents.

“We are satisfied that Htin Kyaw has won to become one of the presidential candidates. We believe that we soon will be able create a better future for our country. We chose him because he is skillful and a very suitable person to be the president,” said Myo Zaw Aung, an NLD legislator.