Prime Minister Thein Sein has been chosen to become the president of Burma officially known as Myanmar.
He becomes Burma's first civilian president in half a century, a cosmetic shift that does little to end the army's overwhelming influence on politics.
The rise of Thein Sein, a 65-year-old loyalist of paramount leader Senior General Than Shwe, offers slim chance of economic and social reforms in the resource-rich country that has wilted under decades of brutal military dictatorships.
Thein Sein is a career soldier and general who joined the military junta in 1997, rising to replace General Soe Win as premier in 2007. He is the regime’s international face at regional forums.
His appointment bodes ill for the national reconciliation Myanmar's recently freed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said was crucial for development, when she spoke by telephone on 28 January world leaders meeting in the Swiss resort Davos.
Most diplomats and analysts expect the new president to maintain Burma's authoritarian status quo, with 78-year-old strongman Than Shwe wielding behind-the-scenes influence.
Thein Sein's rise follows a carefully choreographed election on 7 November last.
Parliament is 83% controlled by serving or retired military men allied with the regime, whose members will fill cabinet or regional ministerial positions.
The country's biggest pro-democracy force, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and its leader, Suu Kyi, have strong public support but no political mandate, having boycotted the poll.
The NLD, which won 1990 polls the regime ignored, was dissolved last year and declared an ‘unlawful association’.
