Parliament elects new Lower House speaker

Myanmar's new parliament elected U Win Myint of the National League for Democracy on Monday as Speaker of the House of Representatives, or Lower House, and U Ti Khun Myat of the Union Solidarity and Development Party as Deputy Speaker of the House. The election took place at the first session of the parliament that began a new five-year term from 2016.

U Win Myint, an NLD MP to the House of Representatives from Pathein constituency in the last term of the parliament, was re-elected to the same House from Tammwe constituency in the 2015 general election.

U Ti Khun Myat is a Kachin ethnic parliament representative elected from Kutkai constituency representing the USDP.

"Today is a day to be proud of in Myanmar's political history and for the democratic transition," U Win Myint said after being sworn in, vowing to strive for gaining basic human rights for the people.

He urged all stakeholders to cooperate in boosting democracy, promoting people's rights and building a genuine democratic federal union.

The new parliament started its first session with the House of Representatives in Nay Pyi Taw Monday morning, two days after the expiry of the previous term of the parliament.

The summon for the first session of the new parliament came nearly three months after the end of the general election on Nov. 8, 2015, in which NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi won an absolute majority of the parliamentary seats.

Attending the first parliament session, chaired by Daw Khin Htay Kywe of NLD, were a total of 430 MPs to the House of Representatives dominated by the NLD.

The first session of the newly elected House of Nationalities, or Upper House, is scheduled to start on Wednesday and will be followed by the first session of the Region or State Parliaments next week.

The NLD won an absolute majority of the parliamentary seats in the Nov 8 general election, competing mainly against the former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Out of a total of 1,150 parliamentary seats at three levels of parliament, NLD dominated with 886 or 77 percent, with 255 or 79 percent being in the House of Representatives, 135 or 80 percent in the House of Nationalities and 496 or 75.7 percent in the Region or State Parliaments as well as 17 ethnic representatives to the Region or State Parliaments.

Xinhua - AFP