At a parliamentary session convened on March 16 following the junta-held elections, U Khin Yi, chairman of the junta-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was elected unopposed as speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw, also known as the People’s Assembly, the lower chamber of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the national bicameral legislature.
The first regular session of the third Pyithu Hluttaw convened on March 16, during which the chairperson, speaker, and deputy speaker of the Hluttaw were elected. At the session, MPs elected Dr. Nanda Kyaw Swar as chairperson. He previously served as deputy speaker of the first Pyithu Hluttaw from 2011 to 2016.
U Khin Yi, who was elected speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw, leads the junta-backed USDP, which won the election, and previously served as police chief under former military dictator U Than Shwe.
After Myanmar’s political reforms, he served as Minister of Immigration from 2011 to 2015 under the quasi-civilian government led by President U Thein Sein. Following the military coup in 2021, junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing reappointed him to the position. He also became USDP chairman in 2022.
U Khin Yi had been widely tipped to become speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw. The position plays a key role in electing a new president, passing legislation, approving the budget, and confirming key government appointments.
In the three-round election held by the junta in late 2025 and early 2026, U Khin Yi ran for and won a Pyithu Hluttaw seat representing Zeya Thiri Township in the Naypyidaw Council Territory.
At the March 16 session, U Maung Maung Ohn, a retired general and the coup regime's information minister, was elected deputy speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw.
The Pyithu Hluttaw has 440 constituencies, but voting was held in only 263 in the last election. Along with the 110 MPs directly appointed by the Myanmar military, this brings the total to 373 MPs.
Of the 263 Pyithu Hluttaw seats filled through voting, the USDP won 231, other parties secured 31, and one independent candidate was also elected.
