Htin Kyaw, a long-time confidant of Aung San Suu Kyi, has won a majority of votes in Burma's presidential election.

The 70-year-old will become the country's first democratically elected leader after more than half a century of military rule, in a watershed moment that will bring the long-time opposition party of Ms Suu Kyi into government..

The new president takes office on April 1 after the vote by 652 members of parliament. Five policy-makers were absent from the 657-seat legislature.

Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a sweeping victory in November 8 elections but she is blocked from the presidency by a clause in the constitution that excludes anyone with a foreign spouse or children.

Her two sons are British, as was her late husband Michael Aris.

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