00:00Meanwhile, Myanmar's junta chief has admitted that the military-led government
00:04cannot hold elections nationwide, as the civil war sparked by the 2021 coup drags on.
00:10The comments by General Ming Aung Leng mark his first acknowledgement
00:14that the polls will not be fully inclusive, coming just days before the 47th ASEAN Summit.
00:21Critics and Western governments have dismissed the planned vote, Myanmar's first since the coup,
00:26as an attempt to legitimise military rule through proxy parties.
00:30Many opposition groups have been banned or are boycotting the polls.
00:35A December census by the junta revealed voter registration in only 145 of the nation's 330 townships,
00:43with Myanmar's population estimated at 51.3 million.
00:48Strict eligibility rules also require parties to have at least 50,000 members
00:53and funds of about $47,000, leaving only six parties qualified to contest nationwide.
01:01The junta has invited ASEAN to send election observers for the polls,
01:05expected to begin on December 28,
01:08a proposal the bloc will likely discuss at its upcoming summit.
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