Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing is poised to become president after junta-controlled elections, extending his rule amid an ongoing civil war.
Yangon: Myanmar’s military ruler Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is poised to become the country’s President. It follows a series of coordinated political moves following the landslide victory of pro-military parties in a highly restricted election.
The 69-year-old was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the lower house of parliament. Analysts say his final bid for the presidency is now impossible to lose.
His official title is “Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Senior General Thado Maha Thre Sithu Thado Thiri Thudhamma Min Aung Hlaing”. A former spy, known as his “eyes and ears”, now replaces him as military chief.
The development came after Min Aung Hlaing presided over the annual Armed Forces Day parade. The army displayed tanks, rocket launchers and small submarines in its largest display of strength in years.
He said that the incoming government was “legitimately elected by the people”. The military will support it “with the aim of strengthening and maintaining the multi-party democratic system.”
The vote was widely condemned, criticizing it as illegal. Parties that won 90% of the seats in the 2020 elections, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, were dissolved and barred from participating.
Under the constitution drafted during the previous military regime, a quarter of parliamentary seats are reserved for the armed forces. Min Aung Hlaing became military chief in 2011 as Myanmar began a democratic experiment.
He staged a coup five years ago by jailing Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. This started a terrible civil war that continues throughout the country.
He has been declared persona non grata in several countries for ordering the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya. About 750,000 people fled to Bangladesh in that operation.
He has been banned on Facebook for hate speech, heavily sanctioned, and the ICC Chief Prosecutor is seeking his arrest for crimes against humanity. He strongly denies all allegations of human rights abuses.
There is no official death toll in Myanmar’s civil war. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project estimates that approximately 90,000 people have been killed on all sides since the coup.
This number probably also includes soldiers whom the army has started forcibly recruiting to strengthen its weak ranks. Min Aung Hlaing studied law before entering officer training school on his third attempt.
He is a member of the Dawei ethnic group and spent his early childhood in central Myanmar. His father was the head of the art department at a teacher training college.
