March 21, 2018•Update: March 22, 2018
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar
Htin Kyaw, Myanmar’s first civilian president in more than a half-century, has resigned from office, according to an official statement Wednesday.
A loyal and longtime aide to State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, he was elected president after Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide victory in the 2015 general election.
The statement from the Myanmar President’s Office said Htin Kyaw resigned from office as he no longer wants to perform the duty.
Myint Swe, the military-nominated vice president, will act in the role until parliament can confirm a replacement in seven days, it said.
Htin Kyaw is seen as a proxy of Suu Kyi as she is barred from the presidency by the country’s military-drafted constitution.
She was later elected to the newly-invented post of State Counselor, officially answering to the president but in reality occupying a powerful spot at the top by the NLD-dominated parliament despite opposition from the military.
