ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Myanmar Junta Chief Resigns as Head of Armed Forces, Prepares to Take Presidency

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has engineered a civilian “transition” that will cement the military’s control over Myanmar’s political and economic life.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military junta, has taken a further step toward becoming the country’s president after resigning as the head of the armed forces.

In a ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw yesterday, Min Aung Hlaing handed over the position of commander-in-chief of ​the armed forces to Ye Win Oo, a close associate who was promoted to chief of ​the army earlier this month.

“I will continue ⁠to serve the interests of the people, the military, and the national interests of the country,” Ye Win Oo said in a speech, Reuters reported.

Separately yesterday, lawmakers in the Pyithu Hluttaw, the lower house of Myanmar’s parliament, nominated Min Aung Hlaing as one of two vice-presidential candidates. A third will also be nominated by the upper house (Amyotha Hluttaw), after which both houses will then convene to select a ​president. The two “unlucky” candidates will then become the country’s first and second vice presidents. A date for that vote has not been announced, but the junta previously announced that a new president would be selected in April.

The move follows a controversial three-phase election in December and January that was dominated by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 231 of the 264 seats up for grabs in the Pyithu Hluttaw and 108 of the 157 contested seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw.

Min Aung Hlaing, 69, was appointed commander in chief in 2011, the year after an election that initiated a surprising move toward political reform. This was terminated by the coup of 2021, which inflamed the country’s existing ethnic conflicts and brought the country to the edge of economic........

© The Diplomat