Aung San Suu Kyi loyalist a step closer to Myanmar presidency

On Friday, the lower house of parliament in Myanmar approved Htin Kyaw, a confidante of Aung San Suu Kyi, as one of the three candidates for president.

Kyaw, a member of the National League for Democracy party, is expected to win, as the NDL has an overwhelming majority in parliament. He will be a proxy of Suu Kyi, who spent decades fighting to end dictatorship in Myanmar, winning the Nobel prize in 1991 while under house arrest. Suu Kyi cannot be president because the constitution prohibits allowing a person who married a foreigner or whose children are foreigners from holding the position; the military, which took power in 1962, is believed to have written that part of the constitution to target Suu Kyi. She has said that she will be "above" the president and ruling behind the scenes, The Associated Press reports.

Both houses of parliament will hold a round of voting to choose the president, with the two losing candidates becoming vice presidents. The date of that vote isn't set yet, but the new president will take office April 1. This is the country's first democratically elected government since the military took power in Myanmar in 1962, AP reports.

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