NAYPYITAW, Myanmar, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Myanmar's Parliament elected Gen. Thein Sein as president Friday -- an expected move from a body dominated by supporters of the country's military junta.
Earlier in the day, Thein Sein, 65, the outgoing prime minister and part of the junta that has ruled the country since 1962, was one of three vice presidents elected by the lawmakers, most of whom belong to the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, the online news service Irrawaddy reported.
He will be supported by two vice presidents, Sai Mauk Kham, an ethnic Shan lawmaker, and Tin Aung Myint Oo, both of whom also represent the USDP, China's Xinhua news agency reported.
Under a new constitution, criticized by democracy supporters both at home and abroad as designed only to perpetuate the military rule, the three will hold office for five years.
Thein Sein won 408 votes against Tin Aung Myint Oo's 171 votes and Sai Mauk Kham's 75, Xinhua said.
The new president was always seen as a front-runner because of his international exposure and strong loyalty to Senior Gen. Than Shwe, 78, the country's ruler for 18 years.
Than Shwe did not seek the presidency but Irrawaddy quoted sources as saying he may still wield much power by staying on as general and being connected to the powerful National Defense Security Council, which is empowered to make key decisions without Parliament's approval.
The Parliament's session, the first in two decades, followed November elections, which the party of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had boycotted. Suu Kyi had been held under house arrest for years before being freed after the elections.
Thein Sein, a career soldier, will now pick ministers to serve his government and critics told the BBC most of the top appointees are expected to be retired or serving military officers.
