Myanmar’s Parliament begins electing next president after military rule

Myanmar’s Parliament Begins Presidential Election Process Amid Military Control

Myanmar’s Parliament convened Monday to begin the process of electing the country’s next president, marking a nominal return to elected government after five years of direct military rule. The development, however, is widely considered a facade designed to maintain the military’s grip on power rather than restore genuine democracy.

The parliamentary proceedings coincided with a significant announcement from Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who has led Myanmar’s military junta since the February 2021 coup. The general revealed he is relinquishing his position as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, a move required by Myanmar’s constitution for anyone seeking the presidency.

Min Aung Hlaing is among three nominees expected to contend for the president’s position and is virtually assured victory. With lawmakers from military-backed parties and appointed military members holding a commanding majority in Parliament, the outcome appears predetermined.

The election process involves each of three groups – the Lower House, the Upper House, and the military bloc, which constitutionally holds 25% of parliamentary seats – proposing candidates for vice president. Min Aung Hlaing emerged as one of two candidates put forward by the Lower House, while the Upper House offered two relatively unknown figures. The military has yet to announce their selection.

Once each group finalizes a single nominee and their credentials receive verification from a review committee, the 586-member legislature will vote. The candidate securing the most votes becomes president, with the remaining two serving as vice presidents. Sources indicate the final vote could take place as early as Thursday.

Myanmar’s troubled political landscape has been dominated by military rule for most of its modern history. The country endured uninterrupted military governance from 1962 until 2016, when Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) formed a government following their landslide victory in the 2015 elections.

The NLD secured an even stronger mandate in the 2020 general election but was prevented from taking power when the military seized control in February 2021, just before the new Parliament could convene. The junta justified its intervention with unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.

The coup triggered nationwide protests, which security forces violently suppressed. Pro-democracy activists subsequently took up arms, forming alliances with ethnic minority groups that have fought for decades for greater autonomy. The escalation has plunged much of Myanmar into a brutal civil war, with the military losing control of significant territories to resistance forces.

Security concerns meant the recent parliamentary elections, held in three phases between December and January, took place in only 263 of Myanmar’s 330 townships. Critics denounced the polls as fundamentally unfair, designed merely to legitimize the military’s continued hold on power.

Min Aung Hlaing, 69, has been a dominant figure in Myanmar’s politics for over a decade, leading the military since 2011. His international notoriety grew following the 2017 crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority, which drove hundreds of thousands to flee into neighboring Bangladesh amid allegations of atrocities that many international observers characterized as genocide.

State-run MRTV television reported that Min Aung Hlaing transferred military command on Monday to his close aide, General Ye Win Oo, during a ceremony in the capital, Naypyitaw. The 60-year-old Ye Win Oo previously served as secretary of both the ruling State Administration Council and the State Security and Peace Commission established after the coup.

The absence of meaningful opposition in Parliament further undermines the credibility of the political transition. Major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s NLD, were either prevented from participating in the recent election or boycotted the process, viewing the conditions as inherently unfair.

Suu Kyi herself remains imprisoned, serving a 27-year sentence on charges widely dismissed as politically motivated. Her party was forcibly dissolved in 2023 after refusing to register under new regulations imposed by the military regime.

International observers and human rights organizations have consistently criticized Myanmar’s electoral process, noting that it falls far short of democratic standards and appears designed primarily to provide a veneer of legitimacy to continued military dominance.