The military regime has extended the deadline for conducting its “nationwide” population census, which opponents have described as doomed from the beginning due to a lack of public support.
The census, the first step in an election the junta plans to hold next year, was scheduled for Oct. 1-15. On Wednesday, the regime announced that it would continue the census until Oct. 31 for people who have not yet been counted and who contact local census-taking committees.
It is reasonable to assume that the announcement is intended for people living in junta-controlled areas, as the regime has been unable to conduct the census in towns and villages it has lost control of in many parts of the country, particularly in northern Shan State and in Rakhine State.
According to junta media, the regime officially planned to send 40,000 enumerators to 100,000 census tracts, to cover the country’s estimated population of approximately 56 million people.
As junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has said his regime would hold the election in stages depending on security conditions, however, it is reasonable to assume it is only attempting to conduct the census in areas where it still has control.
In announcing the deadline extension on Wednesday, the military regime did not clarify the number of census tracts where counting is complete.
One Yangon resident said: “No one would bother to contact them to get counted even if they extend the deadline.”
The census comes at a time when millions of Myanmar people have been displaced by the civil war, and by recent floods—the worst in five decades, with hundreds of thousands of flood victims still waiting for relief supplies in central Myanmar, southern Shan State, and Karenni (Kayah) and Karen states. Meanwhile, the regime’s enforcement of a mandatory military service law in February has prompted the exodus of many young people.
The accuracy of the census was further compromised by the personal safety risks faced by both the junta enumerators and the census respondents. Enumerators did not bother to go door to door, and rushed through the census questionnaires because of concerns over their safety. For their part, many respondents did not provide correct answers because of their distrust of the regime. So, there is no way the census data can be accurate.
Therefore, the resulting voter lists, which the regime will compile based on incomplete and incorrect census data, can’t be accurate either.
Though the current regime has repeatedly referred to its census as a “nationwide population and household census,” it has been unable to send enumerators to any of the dozens of towns and townships it has lost control of in northern Shan State and Rakhine, or in territories where anti-regime groups are fighting for control in Kachin, Karenni, Karen and Chin states, and central Myanmar.
The attempted population count has been rocked by bomb attacks on ward administration offices and targeted attacks against census takers. Some 85 of 330 townships in Myanmar are under the control of anti-regime groups. Most recently, Pangwa town in Kachin State and Pinlebu town in Sagaing Region fell as the regime was conducting the census.
