Thousands Missing from Voters Lists

By Election, Saw Yan Naing 1 April 2012

In Moulmein, a group representing about 500 residents went to the Election Commission office in the Mon capital on Sunday morning to register a complaint that the residents’ names were not on the voter list, said Khin Htay Kywe, the National League for Democracy (NLD) candidate for the constituency.

She said that the local Election Commission refused to do anything to resolve the issue. She further insinuated that members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) were going door to door in Moulmein on Sunday morning urging residents to vote for their party, despite an election law banning campaign activities on election day.

According to a report by the Democratic Voice of Burma, some 6,000 names are missing from the voters lists in Ward 1 of Myaung Mya constituency in Irrawaddy Division, according to independent election monitor Hla Hla Win. Previously there were more than 20,200 names on the list, he said, now there are just 13,483.

In Rangoon’s Dagon Seik Kan Township, some 170 voters’ names are missing from the registers, according to the 88 Generation’s election monitoring group.

Reports of voter list irregularities have also been reported in Mandalay Division and Naypyidaw.