The first session of Parliament began in Myanmar on Monday after more than five years. The army seized power in a military coup in February 2021 and no legislature has been convened since then. Now the new Parliament has started after phased elections in December 2025 and January 2026, but the major opposition parties did not participate in these elections.
The army has controlled about 90 percent of the seats in both houses. In the total 586-seat Parliament, 25 per cent of seats are already reserved for the military, and of the rest, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won 339 seats. Other small parties have secured 1 to 20 seats.
The meeting of the lower house (373 seats) began at the Parliament House, where MPs and military representatives took oath in traditional attire. During this period, security was tight, roads were sealed and vehicles were checked. The upper house is scheduled to meet on March 18 and the regional parliaments on March 20.
Critics are calling these elections fake and an attempt to legitimize the military’s power. After the 2021 coup, the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. His National League for Democracy (NLD) party was dissolved in 2023 for failing to register under the new rules. The NLD boycotted these elections because they were not considered fair.
Myanmar’s 80-year-old former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year prison sentence on various political charges. His party won landslide victories in the 2015 and 2020 elections, but was forced to disband in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, currently head of the military government, is likely to become president. However, according to the Constitution, the President cannot hold the post of Army Chief, hence questions are being raised whether he will leave the post of Army Chief or make some alternative arrangement. Civil war continues in Myanmar following a 2021 coup, with millions of people displaced. The military claims these elections as a return to democracy, but in reality its grip on power has strengthened.