New leaders take office in Myanmar

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar, March 30 (UPI) -- Former Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein was sworn in as the country's new president, ending the military junta's decades-long rule, state-run radio said.

Tin Myint Oo and Sai Muak Kham will serve as vice presidents for Sein, who also named 30 ministers and 39 deputy ministers, state-run Myanmar Radio reported Wednesday.

In February, Myanmar convened its first parliament in the capital of Naypyidaw in more than two decades, CNN reported.

Lawmakers were voted into office in elections conducted last November for the first time in 20 years. The elections drew fire from critics who said the voting was nothing more than a sham.

The junta also revised the constitution for the country once called Burma in a way critics said strengthened the regime's power, CNN said.

Among those who boycotted the elections was opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.