Sawt Falasteen - Thai foreign minister says hopes Myanmar polls 'start of transition' to peace

Myanmar's pro-military party declared victory Monday in junta-run elections widely labelled a "sham" by rights groups.

Critics say the poll was stacked with army allies to prolong its grip on power after a 2021 coup that saw massively popular democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi detained and her party dissolved.

Speaking on the sidelines of an ASEAN retreat in the central Philippines, Thailand's foreign minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said he hoped the polls might be a precursor to a sustainable peace.

"It's not a perfect election, but we hope that it will be the start of the transition," he told reporters.

"We have not made any pronouncements on the elections," he said, adding observers sent to Myanmar for the poll would remain in place for three more months.

"For most of us, especially Thailand, the position is we hope they will continue after the election with dialogue, reconciliation and (the) peace process, so we will have a sustainable solution, a sustainable peace."

Foreign ministers from the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations had huddled a day earlier in a two-hour meeting devoted to the ongoing conflict in Myanmar.

ASEAN's efforts to defuse Myanmar's ongoing civil war have centred around a five-point plan that Myanmar agreed to in 2021 but has borne little fruit.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last month that ASEAN would avoid actions that might "confer premature legitimacy" to any party after Myanmar's pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the election's first phase.

O.Farraj--SF-PST