NAYPYIDAW, March 16: Myanmar's parliament convened on Monday 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 Monday morning, electing USDP lawmaker Nanda Kyaw Swar as the lower house chairman.
The last election in 2020 returned a resounding victory for Aung San Suu Kyi but the junta claimed massive voter fraud and swept aside the results -- detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, disbanding her party and triggering civil war.
After five years of military rule, the junta stage-managed a phased re-run of the vote in December and January, outlawing criticism of the poll and stacking the ballot with its civilian allies, according to democracy watchdogs.
As MPs from the junta-backed election took their seats in the chamber, some exiled parliamentarians from the 2020 vote held a parallel session, asserting that their self-declared "National Unity Government" (NUG) remains the country's rightful leadership.
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"We have been witnessing an attempt to deceive the public with fraudulent representation through these fake elections," said NUG acting president Duwa Lashi La in an online meeting of the shadow government.
"The coup commission is seeking international legitimacy through any available means," he added. "We must not treat this as a normal political development."
The election 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.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is tipped by some to be plotting to swap his military fatigues for the civilian sash of president in order to lead the new government when it takes power next month.
The president will be picked by a vote across both houses of parliament, dominated by MPs who either support the military or are currently serving in its ranks.
Military MPs wearing light-green service uniforms clamoured to collect their parliamentary passes on Monday morning, but declined interview requests from the press.
Min Aung Hlaing was not seen by AFP on the parliamentary estate.
- 'Military in civilian clothing' -
Some Myanmar experts believe Min Aung Hlaing may remain military chief to puppeteer the government behind the scenes.
"Who knows what role he will play, but he clearly will be in charge and the military will be clearly in charge," the UN's outgoing Myanmar rights expert, Tom Andrews, told AFP last week.
"This will be a military junta in civilian clothing," he said in an interview.
The military has ruled Myanmar for most of its post-independence history, before a decade-long democratic thaw saw civilian leader Suu Kyi take the reins.
Analysts say the junta staged its 2021 coup as it grew anxious about its waning influence compared to her hugely popular movement.
But the putsch sparked civil war as pro-democracy activists took up arms alongside ethnic minority factions which have long resisted central rule.
The USDP -- which won more than 80 percent of seats contested in the election -- was founded by an ex-general and is staffed by many retired high-ranking officers.
Serving armed forces members take several key cabinet positions and a quarter of parliament seats under the terms of a military-drafted constitution which gives them an entrenched position in the political establishment.
