NAYPYIDAW: 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.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2026