Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing becomes President amid humanitarian crisis

Myanmar's coup leader and Burmese military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was elected as the 11th President of Myanmar by the military-dominated parliament, formalising his grip on the country's political apparatus for the next five years. Min Aung Hlaing has been ruling Myanmar since the February 1, 2021 coup against west-allied Aung San Suu Kyi. Min Aung Hlaing received 429 votes out of 584 from the MP's on Friday, April 3, overwhelmingly crossing the majority threshold.

Who is Min Aung Hlaing?

Min Aung Hlaing was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services of Myanmar's armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, in 2011. In 2017, when Aung San Suu Kyi was the "de facto" head of government, as Min Aung Hlaing led Junta carried out a genocide against Rohingyas.

General Min Aung Hlaing did not seem to accept the demands for international justice and his potential prosecution. Further, the military controlled the major conglomerates and wanted to maintain power over the economy. He rose to global prominence following the 2021 coup, which was orchestrated on the pretence of a rigged election victory by the Aung San Suu-led National League for Democracy (NLD) in 2020. The election results were a fair representation of the public sentiment, and the NLD secured a decisive victory. But Aung San Suu had little control over the military, an explanation used by her to distance herself from the scorched earth crime of the military Junta.

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To transition from a military leader to a civilian leader, he stepped down from the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services on March 30, 2026, handing the military reins to a loyalist, Ye Win Oo. His party, USDP, a proxy of the Tatmadaw (Union Solidarity and Development Party ), won a three-phase election with 80 per cent of the parliamentary seats in December and January, which was termed by the international community as a “sham.”

Min Aung Hlaing was further legitimised by Russia, China and India following abstention to prevent any international action against him. All of them wanted a stable government and to maintain their economic and geopolitical interests. They did not isolate him or put international pressure, and maintained a pragmatic stance.

Myanmar Civil War

A civil war has been raging within Myanmar for the past five years since the Spring Revolution in 2021, and over 3.6 million people have been internally displaced. People's Defence Force (PDF) and various Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAO) control roughly 40 per cent of Myanmar territory. The Spring Revolution Alliance (SRA) and National Unity Government (NUG) operate from the liberated area and seek international recognition. “Our vision and strategic objectives are to completely dismantle all forms of dictatorship, including the military dictatorship, and to collectively initiate a new political landscape,” said the Federal Democratic Union.

More than 600000 Rohingyas remain under the oppressive rule in Myanmar, among them roughly 140,000 remain trapped in concentration camps. Over 1 million are living in refugee camps in Bangladesh in precarious situations. On June 3, 2021, the NUG pledged to repeal the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law and grant the Rohingya full citizenship rights.