Myanmar parliament to elect presidential candidates

Nay Pyi Taw March 23 (IANS) The Myanmar parliament is set to elect presidential candidates on Friday following U Htin Kyaw s resignation earlier this week.

According to parliament sources the presidential electoral college of the House of Representatives will elect a vice president as a candidate to compete with other two existing vice presidents -- U Myint Swe and U Henry Van Thio for presidential run reports Xinhua news agency.

The vacancy should be filled within seven days after the president announces resignation according to Myanmar s constitution.

After the resignation of U Win Myint as Speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday U T Khun Myat his deputy was elected as new speaker of the House.

The current parliament and government began its term of five years from February and April 2016 respectively under the leadership of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) which won the absolute majority of the parliamentary seats in the Nov. 8 general election in 2015.

--IANS
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