The peace deal comes into effect on the weekend but experts aren't convinced it will lead to hostilities easing across the war-torn country.

The regional bloc told a junta representative at a meeting that a poll is “not a priority at the moment," Malaysia’s foreign minister said.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers told Myanmar's military government to prioritize a ceasefire in its civil war over fresh elections during a meeting in Malaysia on Sunday. Myanmar's armed forces seized power in February 2021 on unsubstantiated claims of massive electoral fraud in 2020 polls won resoundingly by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.