Jakarta. Myanmar has invited all ASEAN members to oversee its upcoming polls in December, but the bloc insisted that an inclusive national dialogue and cessation of violence must come first.

ASEAN leaders, including  President Prabowo Subianto,  are all now gathering in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for a three-day diplomacy conference. Myanmar’s permanent secretary of its foreign affairs ministry U Hau Khan Sum has joined the talks that resulted in a string of documents, including one that zeroed in on the situation in Myanmar. Over the past years, ASEAN has been struggling to resolve the years-long conflict brewing in its own backyard. The group pitched a peace plan, also known as the five-point consensus, back in April the same year when the Myanmar military junta overthrew the democratically elected government.

Fast forward to 2025, Myanmar’s military government recently unveiled its plan to hold long-promised elections on Dec. 28. They have also invited ASEAN countries to send observers to make sure that everything would be transparent.

“[We] note the plan by Myanmar to hold general elections in December 2025 and the invitation extended to ASEAN member states to send election observers,” the recently published ASEAN leaders’ statement reads.

“[We] underscore the importance of free, fair, peaceful, transparent, inclusive, and credible general elections. We emphasize the cessation of violence and inclusive political dialogue must precede elections.”

The four-page document did not directly mention whether ASEAN would send observers under the group’s banner. However, the leaders admitted that they were unhappy with how sluggish the implementation of the five-point consensus had been. Despite the “lack of substantive progress”, ASEAN decided to continue using the five-point consensus as its “main reference” in response to the Myanmar crisis. The group, which had just expanded with Timor Leste, also “denounced the continued acts of violence” against civilians, public facilities, and civilian infrastructure.

According to a readout by the presidential press bureau, Prabowo made a similar comment that a ceasefire was key to creating a meaningful dialogue. The Indonesian leader has yet to confirm whether ASEAN or Jakarta would accept Myanmar’s request for an observer. A separate press release by the Myanmar government wrote that U Hau Khan Sum had told fellow ASEAN members that the upcoming multi-party general election would be “free, fair, and inclusive” as desired by its people.

The military government not long ago enacted a new electoral law that would impose punishments of up to the death penalty for anyone opposing or disrupting the general polls. However, concerns over the vote being a sham remain. Aung San Suu Kyi, who had led the country before her arrest, is still behind bars to this day. Most of the leaders of her popular but now dissolved National League for Democracy party have been arrested.

Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not hold back on the criticism.

“I don’t think anybody believes that those elections will be free and fair. I don’t think anybody believes those elections will contribute to the solution of the problems of Myanmar,” Guterres said on Monday.

He added: “This is the moment in which we need to increase humanitarian assistance, to stop the violence, and at the same time to pave the way for a political evolution leading to civilian rule and to respect for a constitutional form of government."

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