Myanmar presidential candidates approved, election set for Tuesday

Mahn Win Khine Than, the speaker for the upper house of parliament, announced during a joint house session that the National League for Democracy's Henry Van Thio and Htin Kyaw and the military's candidate, Myint Swe, were qualified to run in the election.
The three men stand as representatives for the Amoytha Hluttaw (the upper house), the Pyithu Hluttaw (the lower house) and the military, respectively.
Mahn Win Khine Than said the same day that that the presidential election will take place on Tuesday, after which one of the candidates will be elected president, with the other two becoming vice presidents.
Htin Kyaw, 69, is known to be a trusted aide of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and is the party's choice for president. Van Thio, 58, is an ethnic Chin who has good relations with diplomats and the military.
Myint Swe, 64, is an ethnic Mon with a long military career and is widely thought of as a hardliner. He is known as a close confidante of Myanmar's former dictator Than Shwe, who ruled the country for nearly two decades, brutally suppressing opposition, including supporters of Suu Kyi.
He is also on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of "Specially Designated Nationals," along with other senior military figures and business tycoons, whom Americans are barred from conducting business with.
In his announcement, Mahn Win Khine Than said that all members of the scrutiny committee -- made up of the two parliamentary speakers, their deputies, a representative from each house of parliament, and a representative from the military -- had approved Myint Swe's nomination, but that the military representative had objected to allowing Htin Kyaw and Van Thio to stand.
The representative was said to have argued that Htin Kyaw's eligibility needed further scrutiny, as he is not an elected member of parliament, while Van Thio was unsuitable as he had spent up to six years abroad.
The speaker said that all nominations were approved however, as a majority of the committee had supported them.
Source: Kyodo