The pro-democracy party in Myanmar led by Aung San Suu Kyi announced ethnically diverse choices Thursday for leadership of the legislature as it prepares to take over the government from a military-backed party after parliament convenes Monday.
National League for Democracy executive Win Thein told reporters that it will nominate a member of the Burman ethnic majority, Win Myint, for lower house speaker and an ethnic Kachin, Ti Khun Myat, for his deputy. It will propose a Karen, Win Khaing Than, for speaker of the upper house, and an Arakanese, Aye Thar Aung, for his deputy.
In what is seen as another gesture toward unity and reconciliation, the proposed deputies come from other parties. Ti Khun Myat is a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the outgoing ruling party, and Aye Thar Aung is from the Arakan National Party, one of the better-performing ethnic parties in the election representing a politically volatile area.
Ethnic conflict has bedeviled Myanmar for decades, with minority groups fielding guerrilla armies in a bid for greater autonomy. (Courtesy of ABC News)
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