Myanmar's election ends amid mixed intl response

Myanmar held the third and final round of its multiparty democratic general election on Sunday, with the military government saying the recognition of the people is what is needed, not the international community's stance.

"The people's vote is the recognition we need," said Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who heads the current military government.

In a video broadcast on Myanmar's TV, Min Aung Hlaing said the military government does not understand the international community's perspective, whether or not it recognizes the election result.

Polling stations in about 60 townships opened on Sunday for people to cast their vote in the country's first general election since November 2020.

"This is the path chosen by the people," Min Aung Hlaing told reporters in response to a question from Agence France-Presse.

"The people from Myanmar can support whoever they want to support," he said.

The first phase took place on Dec 28 in 102 townships, the second on Jan 11 in 100 townships, with voter turnouts of 52.13 percent and 55.59 percent, respectively. The number of eligible voters exceeds 24.22 million.

The election will decide the elected members of the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house), the Amyotha Hluttaw (upper house), and the state and regional parliaments from about 5,000 candidates from 57 political parties.

Among them, six parties are contesting nationwide, while 51 are contesting at the state and regional levels.

According to initial counting released by local media, the Union Solidarity and Development Party has secured a strong lead in the first two phases.

The military said earlier that a new government will be formed in April through the Parliament.

The election is also Myanmar's first election since the military ousted an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power on Feb 1, 2021.

"It is widely expected that the USDP, which is backed by the military, will secure approximately 80 to 90 percent of the parliamentary seats," said Bao Zhipeng, an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

However, Bao said the domestic situation in Myanmar is expected to remain unstable because of intensified clashes between the opposition groups and the military.

Defusing tensions

Meanwhile, with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers' Retreat to be held on Wednesday and Thursday in the Philippines — the bloc's rotating chair — Bao said ASEAN is likely to continue pushing forward the five-point consensus, its peace plan on Myanmar, to de-escalate the tension despite varied attitudes among its members.

In an interview with Reuters published on Thursday, ASEAN's special envoy on Myanmar Theresa Lazaro, who also serves as foreign affairs secretary of the Philippines, said the ASEAN chair hopes to engage more groups in Myanmar but has not endorsed the vote.

Malaysia's Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Amran Mohamed Zin said at a media briefing on Friday that Myanmar's general election will be one of the main issues to be discussed at the coming meeting.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.