March 30 (UPI) -- Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of the junta that has ruled Myanmar since seizing power in a military coup in 2021, was expected to be confirmed as president-elect on Monday by parliament following elections widely seen as a sham.
The election, over three rounds, that concluded Jan. 25, billed by the junta as the off-ramp from five years of bloody civil war, produced a parliament in which the overwhelming majority of lawmakers are serving officers in the armed forces or members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the military junta's political wing.
Lawmakers were expected to rubber-stamp 69-year-old Min Aung Hlaing over two rival candidates as the head of a supposed new civilian administration stacked with "former" generals, including the vice presidency and speakers of both houses.
He is said to have mitigated the risks of hanging up his army uniform from senior military commanders disgruntled with his leadership, including handpicking the hardline General Ye Win Oo as his successor to "replace" him as the head of the military.
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