Myint Swe

He was nominated as chief-minister of the Yangon Region after the general election by President Thein Sein. He was tipped to be nominated to become Vice President of Burma after Tin Aung Myint Oo's resignation in 2012, but did not qualify per the Constitution of Burma, as his son-in-law was an Australian citizen at the time.[12]

On 11 March 2016, military-appointed MPs of the Assembly of the Union nominated him as one of the Vice Presidents of Myanmar. He received 213 votes on 15 March 2016 and became First Vice President of Htin Kyaw's Cabinet.[13] He was sworn in on 30 March 2016.

On 21 March 2018, following the sudden resignation of Htin Kyaw as President of Myanmar, Myint Swe was sworn in as acting president under the Constitution of Myanmar, which also called for the Assembly to select a new president within seven days of Htin Kyaw's resignation.

On 1 February 2021, President Win Myint was illegally removed from office and detained by the Tatmadaw (military), so Myint Swe would become Acting President, allowing him to call a meeting of the military-controlled National Defence and Security Council so a state of emergency could be invoked and power could be formally transferred to coup leader Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing, which Myint Swe did the same day. The military maintains that Myint Swe constitutionally assumed the presidency because the constitution states the first vice president becomes acting president if the presidency becomes vacant "for any reason". However this interpretation is incorrect as the military had no legal authority to detain Win Myint and the constitution provides for an impeachment and removal process which was not followed. Additionally, Myint Swe’s declaration of a state of emergency was also unconstitutional because the full NDSC was not consulted; the military had illegally detained other members of the council, including de facto government leader Aung San Suu Kyi (a member of the NDSC as Minister of Foreign Affairs), prior to the meeting being called.[14]

Myint Swe has extended the state of emergency four times[15] by six month periods at meetings of the National Defence and Security Council, but has not otherwise participated in government. The third extension was especially controversial because the constitution says up to two extensions are "normally" allowed. Myint Swe acknowledged this but justified the extension due to what he said are "unusual circumstances" (namely, the civil war started by the military’s seizure of power).[8][16][17][18] The junta-packed[14] Constitutional Tribunal affirmed his interpretation.[19][20]