April 3 (Reuters) – Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was elected president on Friday after breezing through a parliamentary vote, formalising his grip on political power in the war-torn nation five years after he ousted an elected government in a coup.
His carefully choreographed journey from top general to civilian president follows a lopsided election in December and January that was won in a landslide by an army-backed party and derided by critics and Western governments as a sham to perpetuate military rule behind a veneer of democracy.
The 69-year-old general has had a torrid time in power since he toppled the administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and put her under arrest, sparking widespread protests that morphed into nationwide armed resistance against the junta.
On Friday, lawmakers from the dominant Union Solidarity and Development Party and the military’s quota of appointed armed forces legislators coalesced to back Min Aung Hlaing, with the former commander-in-chief winning the vote by a huge margin.
Despite initially trailing to Nyo Saw, a retired general and the junta’s prime minister, Min Aung Hlaing pulled ahead to win 429 votes to Nyo Saw’s 126.
‘DREAMS BECOMING REALITY’
Min Aung Hlaing’s ascent to the presidency – a position that analysts say he has long sought – followed a major reshuffle in the leadership of Myanmar’s armed forces, which he had led since 2011.
On Monday, as he was nominated as a presidential candidate, he anointed Ye Win Oo, a former intelligence chief seen as a fierce loyalist, as his successor to lead the military.
Min Aung Hlaing’s rise to the presidency is seen by analysts as an attempt to consolidate his power as head of a nominally civilian government and seek international legitimacy, while protecting the interests of a military that has run the country directly for five of the past six decades.
“He has long harboured the ambition to trade his title of commander-in-chief for president and it appears his dreams are now becoming a reality,” said Aung Kyaw Soe, an independent Myanmar analyst.
It was not clear if Min Aung Hlaing attended the vote and he was not seen during a broadcast of the proceedings on state television.
China, a longtime ally of Myanmar’s generals, extended its congratulations and said it would support the new government in maintaining peace and stability.
CIVIL WAR RAGES ON
The civil war that has wrecked Myanmar and its economy for much of the last five years is still raging, with the military under Min Aung Hlaing’s command accused by human rights groups and United Nations experts of atrocities against the civilian population, which the junta has denied.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in 2024 sought an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over the alleged persecution of the minority Muslim Rohingya, after more than a million fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in 2017.
“He may exchange his military fatigues for civilian attire, but this changes nothing with respect to his suspected responsibility for serious crimes under international law,” Amnesty International said.
“For the many Myanmar people who have been victims of Min Aung Hlaing’s violently unfettered military … seeing their oppressor formally elevated instead of prosecuted will be deeply painful.”
Some anti-junta groups, including those comprising remnants of Suu Kyi’s party and longstanding ethnic minority armies, this week formed a new combined front to take on the military.
The Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union said its objectives were to “completely dismantle all forms of dictatorship” and initiate “a new political landscape”.
But resistance groups could face intensified military pressure, economic challenges and increased scrutiny from neighbouring countries that may seek to bolster their relationship with Min Aung Hlaing’s new administration, some analysts say.
“It may become even harder to build mutual understanding and trust between groups, reach firmer agreements, and sustain cooperation,” analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe said of the opposition.
(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal, Martin Petty and Kate Mayberry)
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