Myanmar junta chief admits election won't be nationwide, as war continues

Critics and many Western nations view the election as a sham exercise to legitimise the military's rule via proxy political parties

Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing attends a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Sept 25, 2025. REUTERS

Myanmar's junta chief acknowledged on Wednesday that the military-backed administration will be unable to conduct an upcoming general election across the entire country, as a civil war triggered by a 2021 coup rages on.

Critics and many Western nations view the election - due to start in late December and the first since the coup - as a sham exercise to legitimise the military's rule via proxy political parties. Dozens of anti-junta parties are either banned or refusing to take part.

The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the coup, which deposed an elected civilian government and triggered a nationwide armed rebellion that has wrested swathes of territory from the military.

The remarks by Min Aung Hlaing were his first public admission that the polls cannot be fully inclusive, days after he met Malaysia's foreign minister and ahead of a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"We can't hold the election everywhere 100 percent," Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech broadcast on state TV from the capital Naypyitaw, adding that by-elections would follow in some areas after a new government is formed.

The junta was able to conduct a full, on-ground census to generate voter lists in only 145 of the country's 330 townships, according to a December census report that put Myanmar's total population at 51.3 million.

Current rules require political parties to meet a high threshold of at least 50,000 members and 100 million kyat ($47,762.33) in funds, leaving only six parties eligible to contest the upcoming polls nationwide.

The junta has invited ASEAN countries to send observers for the election, due to start on Dec 28 and to continue in phases into January. The bloc is expected to discuss the request during its summit later this month.

Malaysia is the current chair of ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.