Philippine Overseas Secretary Lazaro says ASEAN member states have ‘not endorsed’ the election in military-run Myanmar.
Printed On 30 Jan 2026
The 11-member Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) doesn’t recognise the lately held elections in military-ruled Myanmar, which a military-backed party claimed to have won earlier this week.
Philippine Overseas Secretary Theresa Lazaro stated on Thursday that ASEAN “has not endorsed the three phases of the elections that had been held” in Myanmar, which concluded last weekend.
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Lazaro was talking after internet hosting ASEAN’s first main ministerial conferences this yr within the central Philippines metropolis of Cebu, the place the Myanmar disaster was excessive on the agenda.
Requested in a information convention if the bloc didn’t recognise the elections, Lazaro stated “sure, as of now”. Lazaro didn’t elaborate on how the regional bloc’s stance in the direction of the election and its final result may change.
Native on-line information organisation Rappler experiences that Lazaro stated that ASEAN had not but “reached a consensus on the elections in Myanmar”.
“Lazaro additionally factors out that whereas the three rounds of voting have concluded, your entire course of has but to be over,” Rappler stated.
ASEAN’s nonrecognition of the elections will probably be a serious blow to normalisation efforts by Myanmar’s army rulers, who seized energy in 2021 and hoped to achieve worldwide recognition and a level of legitimacy by holding the election.
On Monday, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Growth Social gathering (USDP) claimed victory within the vote. A senior USDP official was quoted by the AFP information company as saying, “We gained a majority already”, based mostly on preliminary outcomes.
“We’re within the place to type a brand new authorities,” the official stated.
“As we gained within the election, we’ll transfer ahead.”
Official outcomes had been anticipated this week, whereas the army beforehand introduced that parliament could be convened in March, and the brand new authorities would take up its duties in April.
Critics say the elections, which excluded major opposition parties and had been slated by rights teams and activists, had been neither free nor honest, and amounted to an try and legitimise army rule.
The ASEAN regional bloc, whose 11 members embrace Myanmar, has refused to recognise the military-ruled authorities’s coup in 2021 that eliminated the democratically elected authorities of Aung San Suu Kyi and has since plunged the country into a grinding civil war.
“Significant political progress in Myanmar requires a cessation of hostilities, inclusive dialogue and participation by all stakeholders,” Singapore Overseas Minister Vivian Balakrishnan stated, in response to The Related Press information company.
“These preconditions are vital for a authorities with legitimacy and a measure of widespread help to emerge,” the minister stated.
The Philippines presently holds ASEAN’s annual rotating chair of the bloc, taking what would have been Myanmar’s flip after the nation was suspended from chairing the assembly owing to the army’s seizure of energy.
