India will send teams to observe general elections in war-torn Myanmar, scheduled for December, Reuters reported, quoted by News.bg.
New Delhi has signaled support for a vote that has already been criticized as a potential fraud.
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in China on Monday - a rare international engagement for the general who has been largely shunned by foreign leaders since he staged a coup in 2021.
„At the meeting, they exchanged views on measures to ensure peace and stability in the border areas areas of the two countries, promoting trade, strengthening friendship and cooperation“, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
The military's ouster of the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi four and a half years ago on the pretext of electoral fraud triggered a devastating civil war that has engulfed large parts of the country.
Myanmar plans to hold the initial phase of its first general election since the coup on December 28, with part of the voting, supported by the interim administration, seeking to be held in more than 300 constituencies, including those controlled by opposition armed groups.
The Indian foreign ministry said yesterday that Modi hoped the elections would be “held in a fair and inclusive manner with the participation of all stakeholders“.
A day earlier, Min Aung Hlaing also met Chinese President Xi Jinping, The two discussed Beijing's support for the election preparations. The planned elections will take place against a backdrop of raging conflict that could make them difficult to hold. During a national census last year to establish voter lists, Myanmar's military-backed authorities were able to poll in only 145 of the country's 330 townships. Nine parties have registered to run in the nationwide election, and 55 have registered at the provincial level after approval by military-backed electoral authorities. With parties opposed to the military either excluded or boycotting the vote, Western countries and human rights groups see the vote as an attempt by the generals to tighten their grip on power and impose rule through their puppets.