In the period after the Sergeants' Coup in February 1980 he took the idea of bending reeds that he admired Mahatma Gandhi had promoted and that his opponents mockingly called bending with all winds. In 1987 elections could be held against partially thanks to Lachmon's reconciliation efforts. His VHP was in the government and Lachmon was chairman of the National Assembly. In total, he was the chairman of the National Assembly five times between 1987 and 2001. In June 1999 he was in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-serving parliamentarian in the world.