Myanmar’s post-coup Parliament sits packed with junta allies

The last election in 2020 returned a resounding victory for Ms Aung San Suu Kyi. Read more at straitstimes.com.

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar - Myanmar’s parliament convened on March 16 for the first time since a 2021 military coup, AFP journalists saw, packed with pro-junta lawmakers elected in a poll choreographed by the top brass.

The majority of MPs hail from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) while most of the remainder belong to the armed forces, which are entitled to a quarter of unelected seats under the constitution.

AFP journalists in the capital Naypyidaw saw MPs in the People’s Assembly begin proceedings to elect a chairman for the lower house around 10am (11.30am, Singapore time).

The last election in 2020 returned a resounding victory for Ms Aung San Suu Kyi but the junta swept aside the results, detained the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and disbanded her party, triggering civil war.

After five years of military rule, the junta stage-managed a phased re-run of the vote in December 2025 and January, outlawing criticism of the poll and stacking the ballot with its civilian allies, according to democracy watchdogs.

The vote did not take place in huge tracts of the country controlled by rebels and analysts describe the new cohort of MPs as a proxy of the military, intended to give its rule a veneer of legitimacy.