NAYPYITAW, 13 October 2021, (TON): Sources told media “the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy’s meeting with members of Myanmar political parties, in Naypyitaw, was postponed as he had not yet arrived in the country.”

The junta’s election commission initially invited at least eight political parties to its Naypyitaw office to meet with ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar Erywan Yusof on Tuesday.

Local media reports later said the meeting was postponed until Wednesday. The invited parties did not include representatives from the National League For Democracy (NLD), the ruling party ousted in the country’s February 1 military coup.

In a statement released on Tuesday, special envoy Yusof said “he looks forward to a visit to Myanmar in accordance with the five-point consensus agreed to by ASEAN leaders in April. “

In August, ASEAN selected Yusof, Brunei’s second foreign minister, as its special envoy to the country to help resolve the political crisis that has followed the coup.

The political parties invited by the junta’s election commission to the meeting include the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP); the Union Betterment Party (UBP) of ex-general and parliamentary speaker Thura Shwe Mann; the Democratic Party of National Politics (DNP) founded by ex-general and known ultranationalist Soe Maung; the National United Democratic Party (NUD) started by a former NLD lawmaker and his family; the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), and three other ethnic state-based parties.