Thein Sein to Step Down as USDP Chair: Report

12 March 2013

Burma’s President Thein Sein is due to step down as chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and hand over the post to current vice-chairman and Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann, The Myanmar Times reports. “The president will hand over the chairmanship of the party to U Shwe Mann,” Aung Ko, a member of the central committee of USDP, told The Times. “The president chairs USDP, but doesn’t take part in party activities because the Constitution states that the president shall not do so. Since the chairman has to engage in party activities, the president will give up the chair at an appropriate time,” he said, without setting a date for handing over the chair.