STORY: Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was elected president on Friday after breezing through a vote by the pro-military parliament.
That formalized his grip on political power five years after he ousted Myanmar's elected government in a coup.
:: March 30, 2026
And capped a carefully choreographed journey from top general to civilian president.
It wasn't clear if Min Aung Hlaing attended the vote and he wasn't seen during a state broadcast of the proceedings.
:: March 30, 2016
The 69-year-old general toppled the administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and put her under arrest.
That sparked widespread protests that morphed into nationwide armed resistance against the junta.
The civil war that has wrecked Myanmar and its economy for much of the last five years is still raging.
Human rights groups and United Nations experts have accused the military under Min Aung Hlaing's command of atrocities against the civilian population, which the junta has denied.
:: December 28, 2025
His election follows a lopsided vote in December and January that an army-backed party won by a landslide.
Critics and Western governments called that election a sham to perpetuate military rule behind a veneer of democracy.
