Myanmar ruling party secretary general says removed from post

Shwe Mann’s ouster from the party follows rare discord within the establishment over the role of the military, which handed power to a semi-civilian government in 2011 but retains an effective veto over the political system.

The chairman of Myanmar’s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was removed from his post on Thursday, officials said.

Late on Wednesday, security forces surrounded the headquarters of the USDP and prevented party members from leaving, party sources said.

“Shwe Mann isn’t the chairman of the party anymore”, a USDP member told Reuters. “He’s in good health and at home now”.

Myanmar’s parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann speaks to the media during a press conference in the parliament in Nay Pyi Taw on Feb 11, 2015.

“This is just a party leadership affair, there is no reason to worry”, Zaw Htay, director of the president’s office told AFP, adding that the president had made the move to remove party chairman Shwe Mann, who is also parliament speaker. Htay Oo is an ally of Thein Sein.

Party general secretary U Maung Maung Thein said the president has personally reserved his own constituency, Zaputhiri in Nay Pyi Taw, for Communication Minister U Myat Hein to contest the election.

There were also signs that Shwe Mann was reluctant to support candidates loyal to the president and had not accepted some recently retired soldiers put forward by the powerful army.

“Disagreement on candidate lists led to this situation”, he said.

Sources say Shwe Mann has now been replaced by a conservative known to be close to Thein Sein and formerly military ruler Than Shwe.

The security forces left after the meeting concluded at around 2.30 a.m., sources said.

Government spokesmen were not available for comment.

Despite the establishment of the new government, the military has resisted recent efforts to introduce constitutional amendments to loosen its grip.

The USDP has been the vehicle for the former junta elites to metamorphose from soldiers to MPs.

Political observers believe that the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party will win the elections, taking the majority of parliamentary seats away from the Union party, largely comprised of former military officers.

Of the Union party members who are running, 320 will contest seats in the lower house, 166 in the upper house, 632 in state or division parliaments, and 29 as national race representatives, a designation in the 2008 constitution that lets ethnic groups with sizable populations have their own representatives in state or division parliaments, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported.