Myanmar junta chief elected president by pro-military parliament

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing won ‌a parliamentary vote on Friday to become the country’s president, formalizing his grip on political power in the war-torn nation five years after he ousted an elected government

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing won ‌a parliamentary vote on Friday to become the country’s president, formalizing his grip on political power in the war-torn nation five years after he ousted an elected government.

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The 69-year-old general orchestrated a 2021 coup against the administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and placed her under arrest, sparking widespread ​protests that morphed into nationwide armed resistance against the junta.

The transition from top general to civilian president follows a lopsided ​election in December and January that was won in a landslide by an army-backed party and derided ⁠by critics and Western governments as a sham to perpetuate military rule behind a veneer of democracy.