Asean will not endorse Myanmar's military-controlled elections, Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro said on Thursday, January 29. This marks the bloc's toughest stance yet against the junta's bid for international legitimacy. There is no consensus on endorsing them, she noted after meetings in Cebu.
In Manila, Lazaro stated there is no consensus on endorsing these elections following a day of talks at Asean's first major ministerial meetings this year in Cebu. "There are many other issues—there are really no results yet, they just finished the three phases. We don't know the results and the pronouncements after the results come in," she added.
The elections, denounced by the United Nations and rights groups as a sham, concluded last weekend after three rounds of voting designed to cement military rule nearly five years after the 2021 coup. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party swept the polls in a process that excluded most opposition parties and voters from townships where fighting is most intense. They are expected to win by a landslide.
"As far as Asean's collective view is concerned, there is no endorsement at this point in time," said Lazaro, who chairs the regional bloc this year. Human Rights Myanmar, a civil society group tracking violations, found the polls failed all five pillars of international election standards, including freedom from coercion. Their report documented authorities threatening to withhold humanitarian aid from displaced persons and warning young people who skipped voting that they would face military conscription.
Myanmar's civil war continues unabated, with ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy fighters battling the military across vast territories. More than 3.5 million people have fled their homes since the 2021 coup, while the junta has jailed tens of thousands and bombed schools, hospitals, and civilian areas.
Asean has downgraded Myanmar's representation at high-level meetings and postponed its turn to chair the bloc, but its Five-Point Consensus—a 2021 plan calling for an immediate end to violence and inclusive dialogue—has yielded no results as the junta ignores it while intensifying civilian attacks. Human Rights Myanmar urged the international community to reject the results, declare the resulting administration unconstitutional, and bar elected representatives from participating in summits abroad.
