RANGOON — Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman, was named Tuesday on a list of 18 Union-level ministers announced by Burma’s Parliament, all but ensuring she will be a member of the incoming government’s cabinet.
Eighteen names for cabinet positions were revealed by the incoming NLD government on Tuesday in Parliament, but specific assignments for 18 corresponding ministerial posts were not, with the timeline for that disclosure unclear at present.
What is known is that Suu Kyi, assuming she is confirmed by the NLD-dominated legislature, will be the only female member of a cabinet with Suu Kyi loyalist Htin Kyaw at the top as president-elect of the incoming government. Suu Kyi herself is constitutionally barred from the presidency, and has effectively said that she will call the shots in the executive branch via her proxy Htin Kyaw.
Parliament is due to discuss the proposed cabinet roster on Thursday.
The names of at least two members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the former ruling party that was thrashed by the NLD in November’s general election, are also on the list, making good on a pledge by the incoming government to form a cabinet of “national reconciliation” that included other parties’ members, the military-backed party notwithstanding.
The names for three security posts—ministers of Defense, Home Affairs and Border Affairs—were also revealed, with these positions filled by the Burma Army as per a constitutional framework that entrenches a military role in Burma’s politics. Sein Win, Kyaw Swe and Ye Aung are the three lieutenant-generals listed on the cabinet roster announced Tuesday, expected to take the respective ministerial posts in the incoming government.