Myanmar junta 'likely' to hold polls in 2025

YANGON, Sept 05 (AFP): Myanmar's junta will likely hold elections in 2025, party officials told AFP on Tuesday, even as the military struggles to crush resistance to its rule.
The military justified its February 2021 putsch with unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in 2020 elections won resoundingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
The coup ended a 10-year democratic experiment and plunged the country into turmoil, with the military now battling opponents across swathes of the country.
"Elections are likely to be held in 2025," a senior member of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party told AFP, requesting anonymity.
"We have a census-taking process in 2024. Because of the situation (in Myanmar) and that nationwide census process, next year is impossible," they said.
A member of a junta-approved party said it was likely "elections will be held in early 2025", without elaborating. A junta spokesman did not pick up AFP calls seeking comment.