Thailand urges Myanmar junta to allow transition after vote

Bangkok, Dec 8, 2025 (AFP) - Thailand's foreign minister has called on the ruling junta in Myanmar to peacefully hand over power after upcoming elections, Bangkok said Monday, after warning the military-run poll would not be credible.

Myanmar's armed forces grabbed power in a 2021 coup, triggering a civil war, but has promised that the elections starting in three weeks will plot a path to peace and democracy.

Rights monitors warn the junta is crushing pre-poll dissent and analysts describe the vote as a ploy to disguise ongoing military rule.

The polls will not be held in swaths of the country beyond junta control.

The military overturned 2020 election results, making unproven claims of voter fraud, jailing democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and dissolving her National League for Democracy party that won by a landslide.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told reporters in Bangkok last month that the next vote in Myanmar will not be "free or credible" and predicted his country "won't be in a position to recognise the elections".

Sihasak met Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw on Sunday, according to statements from both governments issued on Monday.