the curious thing was

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has won a parliamentary vote to become the country’s president, formalising his grip on political power in the war-torn nation. The 69-year-old general orchestrated a 2021 coup against the administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and placed her under arrest, sparking widespread protests that morphed into nationwide armed resistance against the junta. The transition from top general to civilian president follows a lopsided election in December and January that was won in a landslide by an army-backed party. Western governments labelled the process as a sham to perpetuate military rule behind a veneer of democracy.

how long everyone was able to pretend that democracy was ever anything more than just a thin veneer