Myanmar Led Once Again by Min Aung Hlaing

Myanmar’s parliament on Friday (3/4) elected junta leader Min Aung Hlaing as president in the new military-backed government. The election of the senior general confirms the long-predicted scenario that the former armed forces commander will continue to rule Myanmar. The vote is part of a parliamentary procedure seen as the final step in the transition from junta rule to a semi-civilian government. Min Aung Hlaing is consolidating the power he seized in the 2021 military coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government. Min Aung Hlaing (69) stepped down as supreme commander on Monday. In a joint session of the bicameral legislature in the capital Naypyidaw, he garnered 429 out of a total of 586 votes in parliament, including unelected military representatives. Under Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution drafted by the military, serving civil servants, including the supreme commander, cannot become president. Nyo Saw, a close aide to Min Aung Hlaing and former general who once served as the junta’s prime minister, received the second-highest number of votes and was elected as one of two vice presidents. He ran in elections held in December and January from the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and won a seat in the lower house. Nan Ni Ni Aye, a lesser-known member of the Kayin State assembly, received the third-highest number of votes among presidential candidates and became the second vice president. USDP members and military representatives hold a large majority in parliament with about 86 percent of seats, following junta-arranged elections criticised as a sham by the opposition and Western countries amid the ongoing civil war in Myanmar. Suu Kyi and other officials from the military-overthrown government remain detained since the coup. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party was dissolved by the junta two years after the coup. On Monday, Min Aung Hlaing handed over the armed forces commander position to General Ye Win Oo, a former military intelligence chief who helped orchestrate Suu Kyi’s arrest in the 1 February 2021 coup. The new president of Myanmar is scheduled to form a cabinet early next week and seek parliamentary approval to officially assume state power on 10 April, according to a parliament member. Myanmar has largely been ruled by the military since 1962, although Suu Kyi’s civilian government held power from 2016 until the 2021 coup. Myanmar’s armed forces automatically receive a quarter of parliamentary seats and retain control over several strategic ministries.