March 30 (Reuters) – Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military chief who led a coup in 2021, stepped down on Monday to stand as president in a parliamentary vote following the first polls in the Southeast Asian nation since the takeover that triggered a civil war.
The 69-year-old general, who had commanded Myanmar’s armed forces since 2011, was one of two people named as vice-presidential candidates by lawmakers from the country’s newly convened lower house of parliament.
The country’s upper house will also nominate a vice-presidential candidate, with both houses to select a president from the three in a later vote. A date for that vote has not been announced.
“Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is proposed as a vice-presidential candidate,” Kyaw Kyaw Htay, a lawmaker from a military-aligned party, said on the floor of the lower house of parliament, according to a live broadcast of proceedings on state media.
The move follows a controversial election held amid raging conflict in December and January, won by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party but widely derided as a sham by the United Nations and many Western countries.
TRUSTED LOYALIST
Myanmar has been gripped by violence since the 2021 coup in which the military, also known as the Tatmadaw, unseated the democratically elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
At a separate ceremony in the capital Naypyitaw, Min Aung Hlaing handed over the position of commander-in-chief of the armed forces to Ye Win Oo, a veteran officer.
“I will continue to serve the interests of the people, the military, and the national interests of the country,” he said in a speech broadcast by military-owned media.
Ye Win Oo was appointed Myanmar’s intelligence chief in 2020, and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the army earlier this month.
“The fact that he received two major promotions within two months clearly demonstrates that he is one of Min Aung Hlaing’s most trusted loyalists,” said Aung Kyaw Soe, an independent analyst.
A graduate of the Officer Training School – rather than the elite Defence Services Academy that has long been a crucible for the officer corps – Ye Win Oo previously led an infantry division and the Southwestern Command in the Ayeyarwady delta in the country’s south.
“Since the coup, he has retained the rank of general and held one of the most sensitive portfolios at the apex of the military administration,” the Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar, a think tank based in Thailand, wrote in a March analysis.
“Even so, General Ye Win Oo appears to lack the breadth of leadership experience that spans both battlefield command and institutional administration.”
LONG-STANDING GOAL
Born to a family from Myanmar’s south, Min Aung Hlaing studied law before entering the military and rising steadily through the ranks, culminating in his promotion to military chief on this day 15 years ago.
A rigid military leader and considered a ruthless operator, Min Aung Hlaing has relied on a finely tuned ability to manage the country’s elites, using tactics that include handing important positions to loyalists and punishing political rivals.
He long had his eyes on becoming the country’s president, even though Myanmar’s raging civil war has dented the military’s prestige and hold over the country, Reuters has reported.
“This has been Min Aung Hlaing’s goal all along,” said independent analyst Htin Kyaw Aye.
“It’s just a shift from ruling as a military leader to ruling as president.”
(Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by John Mair, David Stanway and Kate Mayberry)
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