YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing was months from mandatory retirement as a general when he changed strategy, deposed the democratic government and replaced it with a military junta that he headed himself.

The bespectacled officer became military chief in 2011, just as Myanmar broke with its history of iron-fisted martial rule and began an experiment with democracy.

He spent a decade jostling with civilian leaders before mounting his coup five years ago, jailing Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering a vicious civil war that is still being fought.

After a series of co-ordinated moves on Monday — following a landslide win for pro-military parties in a heavily restricted election overseen by the junta — he is set to become the country’s president, prolonging his rule in civilian garb.

Until now, his official title in state media has been “State Security and Peace Commission Chairman Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Senior General Thadoe Maha Thray Sithu Thadoe Thiri Thudhamma Min Aung Hlaing.”

The 69-year-old was nominated in the lower house of parliament as a candidate for vicepresident. Three candidates will be chosen, and one will be elected president. Analysts say his defeat is inconceivable.

A former spymaster dubbed Min Aung Hlaing’s “eyes and ears” replaced him as military chief, ensuring a loyal ally at the head of the armed forces.

The developments come after Min Aung Hlaing presided over the country’s annual Armed Forces Day parade at the weekend, festooned with his many military and civilian awards.

Tanks, multiple rocket launchers and even mini-submarines on lorries trundled through the streets as the military put on its biggest show of force in years.

The incoming government had been “legitimately elected by the people,” he said, and the military would support it “with the aim of strengthening and sustaining the multi-party democracy system.”