Myanmar cleared the way on Monday for coup-leading general Min Aung Hlaing to become president and maintain his rule in civilian garb, with lawmakers nominating him as a vice-presidential candidate and the junta replacing him as military commander.
Min Aung Hlaing has ruled Myanmar since 2021 when he ordered a coup toppling the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi -- detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, dissolving her party and triggering civil war.
After five years of hardline rule, he oversaw heavily restricted elections that criminalised protest or criticism of the vote and returned a walkover win for pro-military parties in late January.
“This political manoeuvering signals that Min Aung Hlaing intends to continue ruling the country with an iron fist,” said analyst Naing Min Khant of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar think tank.
“He fundamentally lacks legitimacy but desperately craves the facade of it.”
Lower house MP Kyaw Kyaw Htay nominated Min Aung Hlaing for vice-president on Monday morning, according to a television broadcast of a parliamentary session on state-run media.
Three vice-presidents will be chosen, one of whom will be elected as president in a parliament-wide vote.
The lower house also nominated Kyaw Swe for vice-president, lower house speaker Khin Yi said in parliament.
Kyaw Swe is from the junta-aligned National Unity Party, formed by retired military officers in 1988 after mass pro-democracy protests challenging the rule of former military dictator Ne Win were brutally crushed by the armed forces.
The upper house nominated two other vice-presidential candidates: Tuu Jar, a former ethnic minority armed group leader from northern Kachin state whose party is now aligned with the military, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, a regional MP from Karen state with the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Democracy watchdogs have long warned that the government will be a proxy of the military, which has ruled Myanmar for the vast majority of its post-independence history.
The junta also installed a new military commander-in-chief, with former spymaster Ye Win Oo replacing Min Aung Hlaing, according to a junta statement.
“Today the current responsibilities of the commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw have been transferred to General Ye Win Oo,” the statement said, referring to the Myanmar military.
Min Aung Hlaing “will continue to work with all his strength and intelligence for the benefit of the state, the people and the Tatmadaw”, it added.
Ye Win Oo was promoted to the top military role at a ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw.
The two generals, bedecked with military medals across their chests, were seen shaking hands at the event, which was broadcast by state media.
In a further reshuffle of generals, armed forces deputy commander Soe Win was replaced by Kyaw Swar Lin, who was also made army chief, a junta statement said.
“A transfer of duties within the Tatmadaw is not a routine or normal handover. Rather, it is a transfer based on trust, confidence and the systematic pre-training of suitable candidates,” Soe Win was quoted in the statement as saying in a speech.
“Duties are being transferred to the younger generation through successive levels of responsibility.”
Kyaw Swar Lin was only a lieutenant colonel when Min Aung Hlaing assumed the mantle of armed forces chief in 2011, but he quickly became a favoured protege and was promoted to lieutenant general in 2020.
Myanmar’s military has long presented itself as the only force guarding the restive country from rupture and ruin.
The generals loosened their grip for a decade-long democratic interlude beginning in 2011, allowing Suu Kyi to ascend as civilian leader and steer a period of reform as the nation opened up from its hermetic history.
After Suu Kyi trounced the USDP with a landslide victory in 2020 elections, Min Aung Hlaing snatched back power as he grew anxious about the military’s waning influence, analysts say.
Now the USDP -- led and staffed by many retired officers -- is entrenched in parliament after winning 80 percent of elected seats, and it is expected the new government will march in lockstep with the military.
Min Aung Hlaing is now expected to manage the transition as president, after he handed over the reins of the military to Ye Win Oo, the former army chief and his “most trusted loyalist”, Naing Min Khant told AFP.
“General Ye Win Oo has amassed significant power through Min Aung Hlaing’s patronage, serving as a vital pillar for the leader’s grip on power,” the analyst said.
bur-sco/mtp
