Asean won’t certify Myanmar election

The 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will not send observers to army-ruled Myanmar’s ongoing three-stage election and will therefore not endorse the polls, Malaysia’s foreign minister said yesterday. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military staged a coup against a civilian government in 2021. 

The election, which began in December last year, has been criticised by the United Nations, many Western countries and rights groups as a ploy to legitimise military rule through political proxies. 

In a low turnout, voters cast their ballots in the second stage of the polls earlier this month, with junta-allied Union Solidarity and Development Party leading after securing 88 percent of the lower house seats contested over the first phase. 

Speaking in parliament, Minister Mohamad Hasan said Asean had rejected a request from Myanmar to send polls observers during annual leaders’ summit last year, though some individual member states had decided to do so on their own.