Myanmar pro-military party declares victory in junta-run polls

Myanmar's dominant pro-military party has won junta-run elections, a party source told AFP on Monday, after a month-long vote that democracy watchdogs dismissed as a rebranding of army rule.

"We won a majority already," a senior official from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to share preliminary results.

"We are in the position to form a new government," they said, after the vote's third and final phase took place on Sunday.

"As we won in the election, we will move forward," they added.

Many analysts describe the USDP as a civilian proxy of the military which seized power in a 2021 coup, toppling the democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military has said the election will return power to the people. But Suu Kyi remains detained and her massively popular party has been dissolved, while critics say the ballot was stacked with army allies.

© Agence France-Presse