Myanmar junta still in power
Reports say Myanmar’s coup leaders remain in power after a widely disputed election, suggesting the military has repackaged authority rather than relinquished it. Separately, a magnitude‑3.5 earthquake struck near Naypyidaw this week, according to the National Center for Seismology. (mnnonline.org) (lokmattimes.com)
Myanmar’s military rulers are still running the country after a 2025-26 election that put coup leader Min Aung Hlaing into the presidency. (usnews.com) Min Aung Hlaing won 429 of 584 votes in Myanmar’s parliament on April 3, 2026, five years after he overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in the February 2021 coup. (aljazeera.com) Parliament then approved a 30-member cabinet on April 9, and Reuters reported that most appointees were retired officers or holdovers from the junta administration. (usnews.com) The election was held in phases from December 28, 2025, to late January 2026, during a civil war that left no viable national opposition on the ballot in many places. Reuters reported that the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party swept the vote. (rappler.com) Myanmar’s constitution also reserves a quarter of parliamentary seats for serving military officers, so the armed forces kept a built-in bloc even after the handover to a nominally civilian government. (aljazeera.com) Critics including the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and Western governments said the vote was designed to preserve military rule rather than restore open competition. (usnews.com) (rappler.com) (dw.com) The junta said the election would return power to the public, but turnout in the first round on December 28 was 52.13%, according to figures cited by Deutsche Welle. (dw.com) The political reset comes with the war still unresolved. Reuters reported in January that about 3.6 million people had been displaced since the coup and the crackdown that followed. (rappler.com) Separately, India’s National Center for Seismology listed a magnitude 3.5 earthquake in Myanmar at 03:40:02 Indian Standard Time on April 11, 2026, days after Min Aung Hlaing’s new government took office. (riseq.seismo.gov.in) The result is a new presidential system with the same command structure at its center: Min Aung Hlaing in the presidential palace, military allies in parliament, and former officers across the cabinet. (aljazeera.com) (usnews.com)
