From Parliament to Supreme Court: How the Military Captured Myanmar’s Institutions

In April, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing assumed the presidency following tightly controlled elections engineered to lend a veneer of legitimacy to military rule. While his newly rebranded regime largely consists of ex-generals, he has also turned Myanmar’s Union‑level institutions into a fortress of retired generals, embedding loyalists across the government, legislature, judiciary, and election bodies to cement military rule. By extending the terms of the Union Constitutional Tribunal and Election Commission to a decade, he is entrenching military influence in the very organs meant to safeguard constitutional order and the democratic process.

The army-drafted 2008 Constitution mandates 12 Union‑level bodies: the Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House), Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House), Supreme Court, Constitutional Tribunal, Union Election Commission, Attorney General’s Office, Auditor General’s Office, Civil Service Board, Naypyitaw Council, Central Bank, Anti‑Corruption Commission, and Human Rights Commission.

Of these, nine are now headed by former senior military men, while only three—Attorney General (Dr. Thida Oo), Auditor General (Daw Naing Thet Oo), and Central Bank Governor (Dr. Khin Naing Oo)—are civilians.

The national legislature itself is led by ex‑military officers such as Khin Yi and Aung Lin Dwe, while nearly all other Union‑level institutions are commanded by men who crossed over from the barracks.