Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing commits to hold elections by year's end

Myanmar's military chief has used a speech at the annual Armed Forces Day to reaffirm plans to hold a general election by the end of the year and call on opposition groups fighting the army to join in party politics and the electoral process.

Min Aung Hlaing said his military government was preparing to hold an election in December and that it will be conducted according to the security conditions in the country's different regions, where armed conflicts are often playing out.

He spoke before more than 7,000 military personnel, held in the capital Naypyidaw.

Rifle-bearing servicemen and women stood to attention as the general reviewed their ranks from the back of an open vehicle.

They then marched past him in order, saluting him as fighter jets flew overhead, firing off flares into the night sky.

The 2021 military coup which ousted democratically-elected State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has been met with widespread opposition, sparking widespread protests and triggering an armed resistance which has plunged much of the country into conflict.

The military junta has since said an election was the primary goal but has repeatedly pushed back the date.

The plan for a general election is widely seen as an attempt to legitimise the military’s seizure of power through the ballot box and to deliver a result that ensures the generals retain control.

In his speech, Min Aung Hlaing also tried to justify the overthrow of Suu Kyi's elected government with familiar but widely discredited accusations of it failing to investigate irregularities in the November 2020 general election and repeating that his government would hold "a free and fair election" and hand over power afterward.

The country's current security situation, with the military