Junta Leader Elected as Myanmar's President
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has been elected as Myanmar’s president. The selection process took place in the Myanmar Parliament.
Voting was held today in the Myanmar Parliament Assembly in Naypyidaw. Min Aung Hlaing obtained a large margin of votes over the second-place candidate in the three-person race.
“With this, we announce Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as president,” announced Parliament Speaker Aung Lin Dwe from the stage in the parliament meeting hall, as reported by AFP on Friday (3/4/2026).
Min Aung Hlaing received 429 votes out of 584 votes cast by parliament members, a parliament official stated after the vote count was completed.
Although the junta has touted the reopening of parliament last month as a return of power to the people, analysts describe it as a civilian image-building effort to cover up the continued military rule.
Min Aung Hlaing is the general who led the coup that ousted democracy in 2021. He has detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and dissolved her party, and was appointed by pro-military parliament members elected in a recent poll overseen by the junta he leads.
The highly popular Suu Kyi has been detained since the February 2021 coup; criticism or protests against the election were banned, and voting was blocked in rebel-controlled areas that have risen to challenge the military takeover in an ongoing civil war. Tens of thousands of people have died on all sides since the coup.
Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to assume power as president this month, while his two rivals—current Prime Minister Nyo Saw and Nan Ni Ni Aye, a regional parliament member from Karen State of the USDP party—will serve under him as vice presidents.
In the post-coup emergency period, Min Aung Hlaing served as the supreme commander of the armed forces and acting president, but to become permanent president, he is constitutionally required to relinquish his military position.
He handed over military control to loyalist and former intelligence chief Ye Win Oo on Monday.
Myanmar’s military has ruled the country for much of its post-independence history and presents itself as the only force protecting the turbulent nation from division and destruction.