ASEAN does not recognise Myanmar’s elections ‘as of now’: Philippine FM

Philippine Foreign Secretary Lazaro says ASEAN member states have ‘not endorsed’ the election in military-run Myanmar.Published On 30 Jan 2026The 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) does not recognise the recently held elections in military-ruled Myanmar, which a military-backed party claimed to have won earlier this week.Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said on Thursday that ASEAN “has not endorsed the three phases of the elections that were held” in Myanmar, which concluded last weekend.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Gaza-based journalist Bisan Owda regains TikTok account after outcrylist 2 of 4Countries supplying oil to Cuba threatened with US tariffslist 3 of 4Iran prepares for war as US military ‘armada’ approacheslist 4 of 4Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,436end of listLazaro was speaking after hosting ASEAN’s first major ministerial meetings this year in the central Philippines city of Cebu, where the Myanmar crisis was high on the agenda.Asked in a news conference if the bloc did not recognise the elections, Lazaro said “yes, as of now”. Lazaro did not elaborate on how the regional bloc’s stance towards the election and its outcome could change.Local online news organisation Rappler reports that Lazaro said that ASEAN had not yet “reached a consensus on the elections in Myanmar”.“Lazaro also points out that while the three rounds of voting have concluded, the entire process has yet to be over,” Rappler said.ASEAN’s nonrecognition of the elections will be a major blow to normalisation efforts by Myanmar’s military rulers, who seized power in 2021 and hoped to gain international recognition and a degree of legitimacy by holding the election.On Monday, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed victory in the vote. A senior USDP official was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying, “We won a majority already”, based on preliminary results.