YANGON: Myanmar’s top general Min Aung Hlaing was months from retirement five years ago when he made an about-face, deposed the democratic government and promoted himself to leader.
The bespectacled officer became military chief in 2011, just as Myanmar broke with its history of iron-fisted martial rule and began its latest experiment with democracy.
Now 69, he spent a decade jostling with civilian leaders before mounting his coup, jailing Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering a vicious civil war that is still being fought.
He is presiding over a month-long poll due to wrap up on Sunday that he promises will return peace and democracy to tropical Myanmar, despite skepticism at home and abroad.
The main pro-military party is on course for a landslide win, and Min Aung Hlaing has declined to rule out swapping his khaki uniform for the presidency when parliament convenes.
