Prime Minister of Myanmar

The prime minister of Myanmar (Burmese: မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်ဝန်ကြီးချုပ်; MLCTS: mranmounghaṅ wan kri khuup.) is the head of government of Myanmar. The post was re-established in 2021 by the State Administration Council (SAC), the country's ruling military junta, to lead its nominally-civilian provisional government. The provisional government is subject to the decision-making of the SAC; additionally, there is significant overlap in the membership of both bodies. There is no provision for a prime minister in the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, with the president being the constitutional head of government. The current prime minister is Min Aung Hlaing, who is also the leader of the junta and the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services.^[3] The post had been used by previous military governments, as recently as 2011.

Prime Minister of Myanmar
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် ဝန်ကြီးချုပ်
State Seal of Myanmar
Incumbent Min Aung Hlaing since 1 August 2021
Style	His Excellency (formal)
Type	Head of government
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	State Administration Council
Residence	Presidential Palace[1]
Seat	Naypyidaw
Appointer	State Administration Council[2]
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	SAC Order No 152/2021[2]
Precursor	Premier of British Crown Colony of Burma
Formation	4 January 1948 (1948-01-04) (first) 1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) (second)
First holder	U Nu
Abolished	30 March 2011 (2011-03-30) (first)
Deputy	Deputy Prime Minister

History of the office

The position of prime minister was created in 1948, with the adoption of the Burmese Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom. Since then, eleven people have held the office (with two of them doing so on multiple occasions). Due to the country's long period of military rule, it has not been uncommon for the prime minister to be a serving (or recently retired) military officer.

The actual power of the prime minister has considerably varied over time, differing based on who holds the office. In 2004, a power struggle between the then–head of state, Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, and his prime minister, General Khin Nyunt, led to his dismissal and arrest.

The position was abolished on 30 March 2011, according to the current Constitution (adopted in 2008). It provided that the president is both the head of state and head of government. But after the 2015 general election, as Aung San Suu Kyi was constitutionally barred from becoming President, an office named State Counsellor, functionally identical to that of prime minister, was established for her on 6 April 2016.

On 1 August 2021, State Administration Council formed the caretaker government and chairman of SAC became prime minister.^[4][5]

List of prime ministers of Myanmar

Further information: List of prime ministers of Myanmar

Images

PM Narendra Modi meets the Senior General of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Mr. Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit at Bangkok, in Thailand on April 03, 2025.

Thein Sein, the Prime Minister (later President) meeting Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister

U Nu, the first ever person to hold the office meeting Mahatma Gandhi during his illness

Incumbent Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar Armed Forces, accompanied by his wife Kyu Kyu Hla and a fifteen member high level delegation

The interim Prime Minister Khin Nyunt after his release from house arrest

See also

• List of colonial governors of Burma
• List of premiers of British Burma
• State Counsellor of Myanmar
• Vice President of Myanmar

Notes