State Counsellor of Myanmar

The state counsellor of Myanmar (Burmese: နိုင်ငံတော်၏ အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်) was the de facto head of government of Myanmar, equivalent to a prime minister, from 2016 to 2021.[2] The office was created in 2016 after Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the 2015 Myanmar general election so she could lead the government despite being constitutionally ineligible for the presidency.[3] The officeholder could “contact ministries, departments, organizations, associations and individuals” in an official capacity, while being accountable to parliament.[4] The office was abolished by Aung San Suu Kyi's political adversary, Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing, after he seized power from her in a 2021 military coup d'état.[1]

State Counsellor of Myanmar
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်၏ အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်
Only officeholder
Aung San Suu Kyi
6 April 2016 – 1 February 2021 (2016-04-06 – 2021-02-01)
StyleHis/Her Excellency
(formal)
State Counsellor
(informal)
TypeHead of government
StatusOffice abolished[1]
SeatNaypyidaw
NominatorAssembly of the Union
AppointerPresident of Myanmar
Term lengthEquivalent to incumbent President (5 years, renewable once)
Inaugural holderAung San Suu Kyi
Formation6 April 2016
Abolished1 February 2021
Superseded byChairman of the State Administration Council
Websitewww.statecounsellor.gov.mm

Background

The post was created on 6 April 2016 to allow for a greater role for Aung San Suu Kyi within the Government of Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in the 2015 Myanmar general election; however she is constitutionally barred from becoming President of Myanmar as her late husband Michael Aris was British and her two children also hold British nationality.[5]

The bill to create the post was passed by the upper house of the Assembly of the Union on 1 April 2016 and by the lower house on 5 April 2016, and signed by President Htin Kyaw on 6 April 2016.[5][6] The law explicitly references Aung San Suu Kyi, and references several priorities, including cultivation of a multi-party democratic system, proper implementation of a market economy system, establishment of a federal union, and establishment of domestic peace and development.[7][8]

Roles and responsibilities

The post was similar to that of a prime minister in that it allowed the holder to work across all areas of government[9] and to act as a link between the executive and legislative branches. The State Counsellor had a term of five years, the same term as that of the president.[10]

List of state counsellors
Portrait Name
(Born–Died)		 Term of Office Political Party Cabinet President Assembly
Term start Term end Term in office
Aung San Suu Kyi
(1945–)		 6 April 2016 1 February 2021 4 years, 301 days National League for Democracy II NLD—Mil. Htin Kyaw, Win Myint 2 (2015)
Prior to being removed from office in a coup d'état on 1 February 2021, Aung San Suu Kyi concurrently served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and for the Office of the President as well as leader of the majority party, the National League for Democracy.

See also

References
  1. Faulder, Dominic (1 February 2023). "Myanmar's iron-fisted ruler Min Aung Hlaing fights to stay on his throne". Nikkei Asia. Bangkok, Thailand. Retrieved 2 February 2023. The aforementioned analyst describes the general's 'burning, passionate hatred' for one woman -- Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's former de facto leader as state counselor (a post now abolished) who has been locked away since early 2021 on trumped-up and often frivolous charges in Naypyitaw.
  2. "Aung San Suu Kyi: The democracy icon who fell from grace". BBC. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2019. [...]Ms Suu Kyi is widely seen as de facto leader. Her official title is state counsellor. - Note that "Suu Kyi" is a part of her given name, and that she has no family name.
  3. "Aung San Suu Kyi set to get PM-type role in Myanmar government". the Guardian. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  4. McKirdy, Euan (7 April 2016). "New government role created for Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi". CNN. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  5. "Aung San Suu Kyi to become 'State Counsellor' of Myanmar". ABC News. 5 April 2016.
  6. "Aung San Suu Kyi becomes Myanmar state counselor: spokesman". Xinhua News. 6 April 2016. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  7. "The Counsellor of the State Law". မြန်မာဥပဒေသတင်းအချက်အလက်စနစ်. 6 April 2016.
  8. "Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 26/2016 - State Counsellor of Myanmar (Burmese)". Myanmar Law Library. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  9. "Suu Kyi consolidates power in parliament". www.skynews.com.au. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016.
  10. "Myanmar MPs approve Suu Kyi as 'advisor to state'". Anadolu Agency.
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