Junta Leader Min Aung Hlaing Becomes Myanmar's New President
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Myanmar’s junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has been elected as president after easily winning a parliamentary vote. Min Aung becomes Myanmar’s leader five years after he ousted the elected government in a coup.
The 69-year-old general has faced difficult times in his rule since he toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in 2021 and detained her, sparking widespread protests that turned into a nationwide armed resistance against the junta.
Parliament members from the dominant Union Solidarity and Development Party won the vote by a large margin.
Although initially trailing Nyo Saw, a retired general and the junta’s prime minister, Min Aung Hlaing pulled ahead and won 429 votes compared to 126 for Nyo Saw.
Min Aung Hlaing’s ascent to the presidency, a position analysts say he has long coveted.
When he was nominated as a presidential candidate, he appointed Ye Win Oo, a former intelligence chief considered a loyal loyalist, as his replacement to lead the military.
Min Aung Hlaing’s rise to the presidency is viewed by analysts as an attempt to consolidate his power as head of a civilian government and seek international legitimacy, while protecting the military’s interests that have directly run the country for five of the last six decades.
“He has long harboured ambitions to swap his supreme commander title for president, and it seems his dream is now a reality,” said Aung Kyaw Soe, an independent Myanmar analyst, quoted from Reuters on Friday (3/4/2026).
On the other hand, the civil war that has devastated Myanmar and its economy for nearly five years is still raging, with the military under Min Aung Hlaing’s command accused by human rights groups and UN experts of committing atrocities against civilians, which the junta has denied.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in 2024 requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over alleged persecution of the Muslim Rohingya minority, after more than one million people fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape military crackdowns in 2017.
“He may swap his military uniform for civilian clothes, but this changes nothing regarding his alleged responsibility for serious crimes under international law,” Amnesty International said, quoted from Reuters on Friday (3/4/2026).
“For many Myanmar people who have been victims of Min Aung Hlaing’s unchecked military violence… seeing their oppressor elevated officially instead of prosecuted will be deeply painful.”
Several anti-junta groups, including remnants of Suu Kyi’s party and long-standing ethnic minority forces, this week formed a new united front to fight the military.
The Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union said its goal is to “completely dismantle all forms of dictatorship” and begin a “new political landscape”.
However, resistance groups may face more intense military pressure, economic challenges, and increased scrutiny from neighbouring countries that may seek to strengthen ties with Min Aung Hlaing’s new government, according to some analysts.
“It may become even harder to build mutual understanding and trust among groups, reach stronger agreements, and maintain cooperation,” said analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe about the opposition, quoted from Reuters on Friday (3/4/2026).