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Home2015 ElectionsElection 2015: Revised voter lists fail to impress

Election 2015: Revised voter lists fail to impress

The revised voter lists released by the Union Election Commission (UEC) on 14 September are still riddled with irregularities, according to voters across the country.

Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) Lower House MP Sai Maung Gyi told DVB that the voting list in southern Shan State’s Mongnai Township included the names of deceased residents.

“Today [Tuesday] we went on campaign trips to the villages of Wan-na, Kaha, Lwecho and Kenglon – where we found that the voter lists there contain many incorrect names and birthdates,” he said.

While some families showed no interested in voting, in each of the four villages some elderly residents had no form of formal identification. As many had expressed their desire to vote, the party negotiated with the village election commission to ensure the inclusion of their names in the most recent list, he added.

Zaw Thet Win, a resident in Letpadan, Pegu [Bago] Division, said many locals had not bothered to check the updated list in the town, which comprises of some 53 villages in its jurisdiction.

The town’s election commission secretary Tin New said the electoral body has amended the errors that appeared in the previous lists, and estimated that the newest version should be at least 90 percent accurate.

“We identified and corrected the mistakes in the list after it was announced the first time – as the updated list was checked with help from local administrative officials, it should be about 90 percent correct,” Tin New said.

There are 175 ballot stations planned for Letpadan’s 126,550 eligible voters.

Meanwhile, locals in Sagaing division’s Monywa have complained that their names are listed in alphabetical order, claiming the format is inconvenient.

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“It’s hard to find your name in the list as the names are in alphabetical order. In the past they were listed according to ward numbers,” said Monywa resident Kyaw Khine Win.

“It’s time wasting – so far I have only managed to find my own name and one of my sons’ names, and there are seven members in our household.”

In Kachin State capital Myitkyina, the updated list included more than 1,000 extra names, according to Tin Win, an administrative official in the town’s Rampu ward.

“The initial list had 7,363 voter names, and the revised list includes 8,878, so we have a little more than 1,000 additional names,” Tin Win said.

Voters across the country whose names did not appear on the most recent eligibility list have until 27 September to apply to add their details.

The initial list announced by the UEC contained some 30 million names, with the revision adding more than two million. The number of eligible voters has increased since the 2010 election, where 29 million people were able to vote; however, only 22 million exercised that right.

According to the 2014 Burmese census, the total population stands at 51.4 million.

 

Read more on the 2015 election here.

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