Myanmar’s president is huddling with government ministers Thursday amid an apparent purge of the leadership of the country’s governing party.
President Thein Sein has the upper hand, according to one of his officials.
Zaw Htay, director of the president’s office told AFP, said that the president had made the move to remove party chairman Shwe Mann, who is also parliament speaker.
Officials of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told reporters that Shwe Mann has been ousted from his top party post and the USDP secretary general, Maung Maung Thein, was also removed.
Shwe Mann was widely perceived as being more politically accommodating with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi than other more hardline members of his party.
The new chief of the party is vice chairman Htay Oo, according to Reuters, attributing this to a senior party official.