BANGKOK (AP) — Min Aung Hlaing, who as Myanmar ’s military commander had led the Southeast Asian nation with an iron fist since seizing power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021, was sworn in as an elected president on Friday.
His inauguration came after a general election judged by U.N. experts and rights groups to be neither free nor fair, with Suu Kyi’s popular National League for Democracy party among many not taking part. He faces the major challenge of ending the civil war that began when Suu Kyi’s ouster from power met with armed resistance.
The transition back to a nominally democratic government is widely seen as an effort to keep the army in power behind a facade of civilian rule.
Min Aung Hlaing’s ascent to the presidency follows a tradition of military strongmen installing themselves as the nation’s top leader and seeking to legitimize their rule through unfair elections.
He will be serving a five-year term after his April 3 election by parliament.
Most cabinet members also have military links
Twenty-eight of the 30 new cabinet members, also sworn in on Friday, are current or former generals, lawmakers from the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, or members of the previous military government.
The pro-military bloc holds nearly 90% of the seats in the two-chamber legislature.
“Myanmar is back on the path to democracy and moving toward a better future,” Min Aung Hlaing, 69, said in a speech after being sworn in.
He also pledged to strive for peace with warring ethnic rebels and restore normal relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has pressured Myanmar because of concern over its political instability.
Min Aung Hlaing took the oath of office alongside First Vice President Nyo Saw, a former general and close adviser to him, and Second Vice President Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the USDP, in the newly renovated parliament building in the capital Naypyitaw. It was damaged in last year’s earthquake.
Civil war prevented voting in some areas
The general election in December and January was widely criticized, in part because the polls were not held in large parts of the country due to the ongoing civil war.
“The junta’s elections were held in only 42% of Myanmar’s territory, under a restrictive legal framework that barred legitimate political competition to the advantage and benefit of the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party,” the Bangkok-based, non-partisan Asian Network for Free Elections said in a report issued Friday.
“Every aspect of the staged elections, from its election management body to the design of the electoral system and the selection of political parties, was carefully engineered to ensure a predetermined outcome,” it said.
Min Aung Hlaing, who had attained the rank of senior general, last week relinquished his post of commander-in-chief because the constitution prohibits the president from simultaneously holding the top military position. A close aide, Gen. Ye Win Oo, took over the powerful job.
Major role in Rohingya crisis
In 2017, under a government led by Suu Kyi, Min Aung Hlaing oversaw a harsh counterinsurgency campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority that drove hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh. The campaign was condemned internationally and some accused the army of being complicit in genocide.
Since the 2021 army takeover, nearly 8,000 civilians have been killed and some 22,208 political detainees remain jailed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring group. Total deaths in the ongoing conflict are estimated to be much higher.
Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s 80-year-old former leader, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as spurious and politically motivated. Her party won landslide victories in the 2015 and 2020 elections, but was forced to dissolve in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules.
