DHAKA: Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) party won historic elections in Myanmar in November, has been given a place in the new cabinet.

Her name was on a list of 18 cabinet members submitted to parliament by President-elect Htin Kyaw.

The list contains only names, and their ministries will be revealed later.

But the BBC’s Jonah Fisher in Yangon says Suu Kyi will head up foreign affairs, energy, education and be minister in the president’s office.

There are no other women appointed to the cabinet, he adds.

Myanmar’s constitution, drafted by the outgoing military rulers, prevents Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president because her two sons have British passports.

President-elect Htin Kyaw is her close ally, and she previously said that she would be ‘above the president’ anyway, governing through a proxy.

The correspondent says the cabinet announcement came as a surprise. Having been barred from the presidency, many had assumed that Suu Kyi would control Myanmar’s new government from the outside, he adds.

BDST: 1252 HRS, MAR 22, 2016
RR