Aung San Suu Kyi to serve as Myanmar’s foreign minister

A parliamentary vote to confirm the new cabinet posts is expected to be held later in the week.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party said on Tuesday that the Nobel laureate will serve as the foreign minister in Myanmar’s first civilian government in nearly five decades. Earlier in the day, Parliament Speaker Mann Win Khaing Than read out the cabinet list to lawmakers, but did not specify which position they will hold. Suu Kyi was the only woman and one of six members of the NLD who were part of the list. NLD spokesman Zaw Myint Maung later confirmed that she will lead the foreign ministry, AFP reported. A parliamentary vote to confirm the posts is expected to be held later in the week.

The 70-year-old, who is constitutionally barred from becoming president, had already vowed to rule from above when her close aide Htin Kyaw was elected to the top post. A clause in the Constitution states that anyone with a foreign spouse or children cannot take up the top post. Suu Kyi held several talks with Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing since the elections, in which her party won 80% of the seats. However, she was unable to remove the constitutional barrier to her presidency. The country’s first democratically elected government will come to power next week.