By Feng Yingqiu
NAY PYI TAW, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's president U Thein Sein has accepted the resignation of first vice president U Tin Aung Myint Oo for health reason, according to a message of the President to the 4th session of the two-house parliament which began in the capital Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday.
The message said that the new first vice president is to be elected by the parliament in seven days under the country's 2008 constitution which prescribes that the candidate shall be nominated by the group of non-elected military parliamentarians and approved by the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services.
U Tin Aung Myint Oo, 61, went to Singapore for medical treatment in April and took leave in May after return.
He submitted his resignation to the president in early July.
U Tin Aung Myint Oo assumed office for a five-year term as the new civilian government was sworn in on March 30, 2011 after 2010 multi-party general election.
He was nominated by the non-elected military parliamentarians who take over 25 percent of parliament seats.
He last appeared before the public on April 16 when he attended water festival activities in Yangon.
U Tin Aung Myint Oo was northeast commander in 1990 and became first secretary of the former military junta State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in 2007.
In 2009, Tin Aung Myint Oo was appointed military advisor to Senior General Than Shwe, then SPDC chairman.
Along with other military leaders, he retired as lieutenant- general and ran for the 2010 general election as a candidate of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in which he was elected a member of the house of representatives.
In February 2011, he and Dr. Sai Mauk Kham were elected first and second vice president respectively by the parliamentarians.
The 4th session attended by 626 out of 654 lawmakers came more than two months after its third session ended on May 2.
Speaking at the opening session of the Lower House, Speaker of the House of Representatives U Shwe Mann stressed the key role of the parliamentarians in democratic reform and implementation of tasks that will benefit the nation and the people.
The current session is the second convened after the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) swept April 1 landmark by-elections.
NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi was absent for the first three days of the session until July 9 after her return from a 17-day tour to European countries, but 36 other Lower House MPs from her party were present at the event.
In the third session of the parliament, which lasted from Jan. 26 to May 2, a total of 11 bills were adopted by the parliament to become laws.
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