Despite Asean’s call to prioritise peace over a sham election, Myanmar’s military rulers appear bent on clinging to power no matter the cost.

The bloc says that any poll must be “inclusive,” but it has limited power to deter the junta from its election plans.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since 2021 when its military overthrew the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Southeast Asian nations told Myanmar's military government on Sunday its plan to hold an election amid an escalating civil war should not be its priority, urging the junta to start dialogue and end hostilities immediately.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers are gathering for their first meeting this year under the regional bloc’s new chair, Malaysia, seeking a breakthrough over Myanmar’s drawn-out civil war and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Malaysia has appointed a new ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar to try and implement the regional bloc’s stalled peace plan for the war-torn country.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers told Myanmar's junta to prioritise a ceasefire in its civil war over fresh elections during a meeting in Malaysia on Sunday. But we told them that election is not a priority at the moment,

LANGKAWI: Asean foreign ministers have stressed to Myanmar that it is more important to bring about peace in the country rather than hold a national election, says Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

After three years of failed diplomacy, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has upped the ante and warned the military junta in Myanmar to end the civil war and allow the free flow of much-needed humanitarian aid.

ASEAN secretary-general Kao Kim Hourn said some of the foreign ministers on Jan. 19 also "called for the release of Madam Aung San Suu Kyi," the prominent pro-democracy figure who has been detained since the 2021 coup.

ASEAN's fifth envoy to Myanmar, Tan Sri Othman Hashim, appointed during the bloc's meeting of foreign ministers.

Foreign minister Mohamad Hasan says it is Myanmar's obligation, as a member of Asean, to fulfil a ceasefire agreement.