Myanmar’s parliament elects Aung San Suu Kyi’s aide Htin Kyaw as President

FILE – In this Feb. 1, 2016 file photo, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, center, walks along with other lawmakers of her National League for Democracy party as they leave after a regular session of the lower house of parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)

Myanmar’s lawmakers on Tuesday elected a Htin Kyaw, close aide and longtime friend of Aung San Suu Kyi to become the country’s first civilian president in decades, in a historic moment for the formerly junta-run nation.

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Kyaw, 69, won 360 of 652 votes cast by Myanmar’s two legislative chambers, paving the way for him to serve as a proxy for the Nobel laureate who is constitutionally barred from becoming president.

National League for Democracy party (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi, center, arrives in Manama’s parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, March 15, 2016.  (Source: AP)

MPs burst into applause when the results were announced after a lengthy counting procedure in the capital Naypyidaw.

Suu Kyi is barred from taking the top post under the country’s junta-era constitution because she married and had children with a foreigner.

In this image made from video provided by Myanmar Parliament Television, members of parliament cast their ballots for the country’s new president in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.  (Source: AP)

But she has pledged to pull the strings of power from “above” her appointee backed by a thumping mandate from her party’s landslide election win in November.

The son of a revered poet who has helped run Suu Kyi’s charitable foundation in recent years, Htin Kyaw has long been a trusted member of her inner circle.