Myanmar’s acting vice-president was appointed interim prime minister on Friday by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body formed of elected lawmakers from Myanmar’s ousted civilian government.
Mahn Win Khaing Than served as the speaker of the Upper House until the Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government was forced out in the February 1 military coup.
The CRPH announced the lineup of its interim cabinet members at an online press event on Friday. It includes a president, state counsellor, vice president, prime minister and 11 ministers for 12 ministries. There are also 12 deputy ministers appointed by the CRPH.
Of the 26 total cabinet members, 13 belong to ethnic nationalities, and eight are women.
Ousted president Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi retained their previous positions, but were still detained in military custody at the time of reporting.
Duwa Lashi La was appointed Vice President.
CRPH spokesperson Yee Mon, also known as Maung Tin Thit, has been named the defence minister with his deputies revealed as Khin Ma Ma Myo, the founder of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security Studies, and Nai Kao Rot, an ethnic Mon politician.
Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who has been the acting minister for three cabinet positions (labour, immigration, and population; education; and health and sports) has become the interim head of two ministries: education and health.
Zin Mar Aung, an elected lawmaker and member of the CRPH was appointed foreign affairs minister.
Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, the elected Karen ethnic affairs minister for Yangon Region, was appointed Minister of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs. Her deputy is Ei Thinzar Maung, who competed in the 2020 elections as a Lower House candidate for Yangon’s Pabedan Township.
At 26 years old, Ei Thinzar Maung is the youngest interim cabinet member. She is a well known protest leader in the anti-coup resistance movement and a former member of the Democratic Party for a New Society.
Dr. Sasa, a member of the CRPH and Myanmar’s Special Envoy to the United Nations, has been appointed the Minister for International Cooperation.
The CRPH consists mainly of parliamentarians from the National League for Democracy (NLD) who were elected in Myanmar’s 2020 general election but were unable to take their seats in the legislature due to the February 1 military coup.
A CRPH member, who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that the cabinet was formed with the agreement of multiple ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and would be in accordance with the political roadmap outlined in the Federal Democracy Charter.
The Federal Democracy Charter was published by the CRPH on March 31, the same day it announced that it had abolished the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.
The two-part charter lays out a plan to form an “interim national unity government,” the duties of which include working to “weaken the governance mechanisms” of the military regime, support the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), and make arrangements for “national defence.”
According to the political roadmap described in the first part of the charter, legislative and judicial bodies will be created after the formation of a national unity government. The charter also includes plans to establish a national convention to draft a new constitution, which would be approved only after a national referendum is held.
The charter states that the national unity government will govern under a parliamentary system and will include a prime minister, president, state counsellor and a vice-president.
Under the charter, there are also plans to establish a National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) to coordinate cooperation among federal democracy forces. The NUCC will include representatives of the CRPH, political parties, EAOs, civil society organisations and CDM groups.
Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong, the appointed minister of federal union affairs, said at an online press conference on Friday afternoon that members of the NUCC would be announced within one week, although the council was originally supposed to have been formed at the same time as the interim cabinet.
He said that the members were trying to ensure that the council would be as inclusive as possible.
The interim cabinet was formed following a series of meetings between current CRPH members and the leaders of several EAOs and ethnic political parties, held after the previous NLD-led administration’s term officially expired on March 31.
The 20-page Federal Democracy Charter is based on an interim constitution drafted between 1990 and 2008 by NLD lawmakers elected in 1990 and ethnic armed forces in Myanmar’s border areas. This is the first time it has been unveiled to the public.
A complete lineup of the cabinet members is as follows:
President: Win Myint
State Counsellor: Aung San Suu Kyi
Vice President: Duwa Lashi La
Prime Minister: Mahn Win Khaing Than
Union Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Zin Mar Aung
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Moe Zaw Oo
Union Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration: Lwin Ko Latt
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration: Khu Hte Bu
Union Minister, Ministry of Defence: Yee Mon
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Defence: Khin Ma Ma Myo
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Defence: Nai Kao Rot
Union Minister, Ministry of Federal Union Affairs: Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Federal Union Affairs: Chit Tun
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Federal Union Affairs: Mai Win Htoo
Union Minister, Ministry of Planning, Finance and Investment: Tin Tun Naing
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Planning, Finance and Investment: Min Zayar Oo
Union Minister, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management: Dr. Win Myat Aye
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management: Naw Htoo Paw
Union Minister, Ministry of International Cooperation: Dr. Sasa
Union Minister, Ministry of Education: Dr. Zaw Wai Soe
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education: Ja Htoi Pan
Union Minister, Ministry of Health: Dr. Zaw Wai Soe
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health: Dr. Shwe Pon
Union Minister, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation: Dr. Tu Hkawng
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation: Khun Bedu
Union Minister, Ministry of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs: Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs: Ei Thinzar Maung
