The prime minister of Myanmar () is the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The post was re-established in 2021 by the

State Administration Council The State Administration Council (; abbreviated SAC or နစက) is the military junta currently governing Myanmar, established by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, February 2021 c ...

(SAC), the country's ruling

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

, to lead its nominally-civilian

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

. 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 President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

being the constitutional head of government. The current prime minister is

Min Aung Hlaing Min Aung Hlaing (born 3 July 1956) is a Burmese army general who has ruled Myanmar as the chairman of the State Administration Council, chairman of the State Administration Council (SAC) since seizing power in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Fe ...

, who is also the leader of the junta and the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services. The post had been used by previous military governments, as recently as 2011.

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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. 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 An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

. 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 A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

, Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the

State Peace and Development Council The State Peace and Development Council ( ; abbreviated SPDC or , ) was the official name of the Military dictatorship, military government of Burma (Myanmar) which, in 1997, succeeded the State Law and Order Restoration Council (; abbrevi ...

, 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 A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

(adopted in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

). It provided that the

is both the head of state and head of government. But after the 2015 general election, as

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), Ministe ...

was constitutionally barred from becoming

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, an office named State Counsellor, functionally identical to that of prime minister, was established for her on 6 April 2016. On 1 August 2021,

formed the caretaker government and chairman of SAC became prime minister.

List of prime ministers of Myanmar

Images

Burmese_Premier_Thakin_Nu_with_Mahatama_Gandhi_in_New_Delhi

Senior_General_Min_Aung_Hlaing_C-in-C_Myanmar_Armed_Forces_and_fifteen_member_high_level_delegation_onboard_INS_Satpura

Notes

References

External links

World Statesmen – Myanmar (Burma)

{{Heads of state and government of Asia