This is because many in Hlaing Thayar are migrants from the countryside or residents of illegal slums who often lack household registration certificates used to compile the voter lists. In Hlaing Thayar, according recurrent reports in local media, voter list inaccuracies are widespread, despite two rounds of updating of the lists by the local election sub-commission. INTERNAL MIGRANTS FACE REGISTRATION HURDLES “People have experience with elections in the past, but they have lost trust because previous elections did not lead to genuine change,” he told Myanmar Now. Saung Kha, a youth activist and poet, said he joined the Independent Youth For Change campaign as the public needed to be stirred into action to register and turn out to vote on Nov. “In centres observed, PACE saw low levels of voter turnout and low levels of voters making changes or additions to the list.” 21 that it was concerned over low levels of voter participation and awareness raising on the issue. The People’s Alliance for Credible Elections (PACE), a coalition of local NGOs observing the election preparations and the polls, said in a statement on Sept. Migrant workers, however, could apply for voter registration until Oct.
The deadline to file an application for voter list changes closed on Sept. 12 he could only guarantee a 30 percent accuracy rate for nationwide voter lists as the public had failed to actively verify their names on voter lists.
The UEC has said it is up to voters to check the accuracy of the lists. This time, the process is so complicated.” “I’m going to lodge a complaint if this doesn’t change,” he said, adding, “I voted in the 19 elections, I just showed my identity card. He filled in a form to correct it, only to discover to his astonishment that in the updated voter list all his family members had disappeared, and another family was registered at his home address. Some residents who attempted to correct the lists said their complaints had not been properly addressed by local election commission officials.Īung Thein Myint, whose family has lived in the area for years, said he checked the voter list when it was released in April and found that his adult daughter’s name was missing. “The dead are on the list but the living are excluded. Moe Moe Mying, a customer in a grocery shop, was cynical when asked about registering for the general election, saying the lists had already been manipulated and even bulked out with the names of people who had died. In Hlaing Thayar, residents viewed the problems with a mix of concern and resignation, the latter a result of a deep distrust of the government and political process after decades of military rule. “I think the (UEC) did it so people would be frustrated and disappointed,” he said in a phone interview, declining to discuss the motivations of the electoral commission.
Democracy 3 apathetic electorate software#
The Union Election Commission (UEC) has blamed errors on software problems and said it is the responsibility of voters to ensure their names and details have been correctly listed.īut Aye Boh, an Upper House candidate for the opposition NLD, said he believed inaccuracies in the voter list were more than simple errors. “I’m really worried they may not be able to vote despite their eligibility,” Than Myint, a Lower House candidate for the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Hlaing Thayar Township, told Myanmar Now.Ĭriticism over errors on voters list have filled Myanmar’s social and mainstream media, with complaints ranging from incorrect birth dates, names and national registration numbers to the inclusion of deceased people and the omission of eligible voters.
But the time left to do this is fast running out, the procedures involved complicated, and public interest in the election preparations is low. 8.Ĭoncerned activists and opposition party candidates are trying to mobilise voters in the area to make sure their names are correctly registered on voter lists. The issue could leave tens of thousands of people in the township – and many more nationwide – without the opportunity to vote in Myanmar’s landmark polls on Nov. Hlaing Thayar Township, a sprawling mix of shanty towns and industrial estates on Yangon’s northern outskirts, has emerged as one of the main areas in the city affected by widespread voter registration problems. You have the freedom to vote for your preferred candidates, but you will only be able to do so if your name is on the voter list,” a member of the Independent Youth For Change announced through a handheld speaker to passers-by. “Soon there will be elections that could change our future. On a recent hot afternoon on a bustling street in Hlaing Thayar Township, residents and stall keepers were shading themselves from the blistering sun, but a group of youth activists clad in blue T-shirts were undeterred in their efforts to motivate would-be voters.
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