Ex-Lt-Gen Tin Aye, who resigned from Burma's Lower House of Parliament yesterday, has been nominated chairman of the Union Election Commission (EC), according to sources in Napyidaw.

Ex-Gen Thein Sein, the Parliament's president-elect, nominated Tin Aye, the former chief of Military Ordnance Chief and a protegé of Burmese junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, for the position during today's session of Parliament.

In this photo taken on Feb. 12, 2011, Tin Aye, the ex-lieutenant general and the sixth-ranking member of Burma's junta, to mark in commemoration of the 64th Anniversary Union day in Naypyidaw. (Photo: AP)

“According to the Constitution, the EC chairman must not be a member of a political party or a Parliamentary representative. That's why Tin Aye sent a letter requesting permission to resign from his seat,” said an army official at the Naypyidaw Regional Military Command.

Tin Aye, who won a seat in Mandalay Division's Tada-U Township as a member of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), is currently a member of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, which is due to be dissolved once a new government is formed.

Political observers in Rangoon noted that the president, according to the Constitution, must have responsibility to form the most important branches of government, such as the National Defense and Security Council, the Financial Commission, the Union Supreme Court, the Constitutional Tribunal, the Union Election Commission and the Union Civil Services Board.

The Constitutional Tribunal was formed on Friday on the basis of three judges selected by Thein Sein, three judges selected by the Speaker of the Lower House, Thura Shwe Mann, and three judges selected by the Speaker of the Upper House, Khin Aung Myint. Most of the judges are academics or legal experts.

On Wednesday, Parliament agreed to form a new Union Supreme Court with seven members, the state-run media reported.

Of the seven supreme court judges, Tun Tun Oo was nominated by the president as the chief justice. The nomination is expected to be discussed in Parliament today.

The Burmese Parliament opened its first session in more than 20 years on Jan. 31, following elections in November. The Parliament is controlled by military appointees and the USDP, which holds more than 80 percent of the seats in the legislature.

Tin Aye's sudden, unexplained resignation yesterday following recent reports of the arrest and dismissal of Lt-Gen Thura Myint Aung, who was reportedly in line to succeed Than Shwe as commander-in-chief of Burma's armed forces, added to speculation that several top generals are unhappy with their new positions within the country's post-election political order.

Meanwhile, military sources in Napyidaw said that Maj Pyi Aung, the son-in-law of Burma's No 2 general, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, and son of former Minister for Industry 1 Aung Thaung, has reportedly been dismissed from the army for lack of discipline.

Sources said that Pyi Aung, who has also managed two successful business companies—IGE Co Ltd, also known as IGE Pte Ltd, and Aung Yee Phyoe Co Ltd—was sacked by junta head Than Shwe for failing to attend the military training of battalion commanders.