Myanmar’s parliament met on Monday for the first time in over five years, following elections that excluded major opposition parties and ensured the ruling military retains a firm grip on power. The military had blocked the previous parliament from convening after seizing control from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021, and has ruled without a legislature since then.
The military and its allies now hold nearly 90% of seats in the two-chamber parliament. The former ruling National League for Democracy and other major opposition parties were either barred from running or refused to participate under conditions they deemed unfair. Critics have dismissed the vote as an attempt to legitimise military rule amid a civil war sparked by the 2021 coup.
Delegates in traditional attire gathered in Naypyitaw for the opening of the 373-seat lower house, which convened in a tightly guarded parliamentary complex recently renovated after earthquake damage. Security forces sealed roads and searched vehicles for explosives. The 213-seat upper house is set to open on Wednesday, followed by regional parliaments two days later.
A quarter of the 586 combined seats are reserved for the military under the constitution. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won 339 seats, while 21 other parties secured between one and 20 seats each. The new parliament’s first tasks are to elect speakers, then a president and two vice presidents. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the current military government, is widely expected to become president, though the constitution bars a president from also serving as army commander-in-chief.
Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely seen as politically motivated. Her party, which won landslides in 2015 and 2020, was dissolved in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules. An opposition shadow parliament, formed by lawmakers blocked from taking seats in 2021, held an online session on Monday, claiming to be the country’s sole legitimate legislature.
