In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 8 November 1951
- Birthplace
- Nyaung Chaung village, Danubyu Township, Burma
- Country
- Myanmar
- Nationality
- Burmese
- Known for
- Serving as president from 2018 until the 2021 coup and refusing military pressure to resign
- Profession
- Lawyer
- Lower-house speaker
- 2016–2018
- President
- 29 March 2018–1 February 2021
- Release announced
- 2026 amnesty
Why this life matters
Win Myint’s career connects the unhonoured 1990 election, the NLD’s parliamentary era and the constitutional illegality at the centre of the 2021 takeover.
Timeline
Key moments
Born in the Ayeyarwady Delta
Born on 8 November in Nyaung Chaung village near Danubyu.
Began practising law
Worked as a higher-grade pleader and later as a High Court advocate.
Joined the NLD and won an election
Entered the democracy movement and won Danubyu constituency in the election the junta refused to honour.
Entered the new parliament
Won the Pathein Township seat in the April by-elections.
Became lower-house speaker
Led the Pyithu Hluttaw after the NLD’s general-election victory.
Elected president
Succeeded Htin Kyaw after winning the combined parliament’s vote.
Detained and removed during the coup
Refused military pressure to resign before soldiers transferred power to an acting president.
Release announced
A UN Special Envoy briefing welcomed the announcement of his release under an amnesty.
Law, the 1988 uprising and an election denied
Win Myint was born in the Ayeyarwady Delta in 1951, studied at Rangoon University and built a legal practice in Danubyu and Pathein. The profession placed him close to courts and local administration during Ne Win’s one-party rule. He joined the 1988 democracy movement and became a member of the newly formed National League for Democracy.
He won a seat for Danubyu in the May 1990 general election, but the military government did not allow the elected parliament to convene. Like many NLD organisers, he experienced detention and restrictions while continuing political work. That interrupted mandate is essential to his biography: his parliamentary career began with a victory that could not be exercised and resumed only after the military-designed constitutional opening two decades later.
From by-election candidate to parliamentary speaker
The NLD re-entered formal electoral politics in the 2012 by-elections. Win Myint won Pathein Township and served on parliamentary committees concerned with law and public administration. He won again in 2015, this time for Tamwe Township in Yangon, as the NLD gained the majority needed to form the next government.
In February 2016 he became speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw, the lower house. The role required him to manage a chamber containing a large NLD majority, opposition parties and the constitutionally appointed military bloc. UN records from Ban Ki-moon’s 2016 visit list Win Myint among the parliamentary leaders consulted during the new government’s first year.
President in an NLD-led but divided state
After Htin Kyaw resigned, the combined parliament elected Win Myint president on 28 March 2018 and he took office the following day. Aung San Suu Kyi remained State Counsellor and the government’s dominant political leader. Win Myint carried the formal duties of head of state, advocated administrative discipline and anti-corruption measures and represented Myanmar in international diplomacy.
The presidency did not command the armed forces or the three security ministries reserved for military nominees. It also operated during intense international criticism of the treatment of the Rohingya and continuing conflict in several ethnic areas. The division between formal civilian office and autonomous military power became decisive after the NLD won an even larger mandate in the November 2020 election.
Refusal to resign, detention and release
Soldiers detained Win Myint before dawn on 1 February 2021, hours before the new parliament was due to meet. In later testimony he said senior officers had pressured him to resign on grounds of ill health and threatened serious consequences; he refused. A military-selected vice-president then acted as president and declared the emergency used to transfer power to Min Aung Hlaing. The UN Special Rapporteur concluded that Win Myint’s removal and the emergency procedure violated the 2008 Constitution.
Military courts convicted him in closed proceedings on charges rejected by the NLD and international rights bodies as politically motivated. UN Security Council Resolution 2669 called for his release. In 2026 the UN Special Envoy welcomed an announcement that Win Myint had been freed under an amnesty, while continuing to demand the release of all arbitrarily detained people. His refusal to resign remains central to the legal argument that the presidency never became constitutionally vacant.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Win Myint
- Who is Win Myint?
- Win Myint is a lawyer and former president of Myanmar. Win Myint’s career connects the unhonoured 1990 election, the NLD’s parliamentary era and the constitutional illegality at the centre of the 2021 takeover.
- What is Win Myint best known for?
- Win Myint is best known for serving as president from 2018 until the 2021 coup and refusing military pressure to resign.
- When and where was Win Myint born?
- Win Myint was born on 8 November 1951 in Nyaung Chaung village, Danubyu Township, Burma.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. National Unity Government of MyanmarPresident U Win Myint · biographical record
- 2. UN Human Rights CouncilUN Special Rapporteur report on the legality of the 2021 takeover
- 3. United Nations Security CouncilSecurity Council Resolution 2669 and call to release detainees
- 4. United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding AffairsSpecial Envoy briefing on Win Myint’s announced release
- 5. Wikimedia Commons2018 portrait and GODL-India licensing record
