The bloc says that any poll must be “inclusive,” but it has limited power to deter the junta from its election plans.

After three years of failed diplomacy, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has upped the ante and warned the military junta in Myanmar to end the civil war and allow the free flow of much-needed humanitarian aid.

Southeast Asian nations told Myanmar's military government on Sunday its plan to hold an election amid an escalating civil war should not be its priority, urging the junta to start dialogue and end hostilities immediately.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since 2021 when its military overthrew the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Foreign minister Mohamad Hasan says it is Myanmar's obligation, as a member of Asean, to fulfil a ceasefire agreement.

ASEAN secretary-general Kao Kim Hourn said some of the foreign ministers on Jan. 19 also "called for the release of Madam Aung San Suu Kyi," the prominent pro-democracy figure who has been detained since the 2021 coup.

The regional bloc told a junta representative at a meeting that a poll is “not a priority at the moment," Malaysia’s foreign minister said.