Many people are finding that their names are not on the voter lists that were issued in Rangoon and Naypyidaw recently, while family members are discovering the names of relatives who have died still registered, said Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

In addition, many names are wrongly spelt, the dates of birth are frequently incorrect, as are parents’ names and other details, said Zarni Sein Win, the secretary of the NLD’s central voter list review team.

“The dates of birth are most often incorrect,” he told DVB on Friday. “Names are misspelled, the father’s name is wrong – so many kinds of mistakes.

“Also, the lists that the UEC [Union Election Commission] printed have such small writing that elderly people or people with poor eyesight cannot read them.”

Voter lists were issued last week for 14 townships in Rangoon Division and eight townships in Naypyidaw. Residents were invited to confirm they are eligible to vote at the general election by checking the lists which were pinned on boards at local administrative offices between 25 May and 7 June.

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U Kyaw, a parliamentarian representing the National Democracy Party in Rangoon’s Thingangyun constituency, told DVB that he could not find his own name on the voter list at his local government office.

“I have voted in every election,” he said. “If even MPs are missing from the lists, then I doubt that ordinary residents are included.”

Rangoon Division Commission Chairman Ko Ko said that these are just preliminary lists and are subject to corrections.

“These registers that we released are just basic preliminary lists. We did not say they were complete. Many lists will have mistakes. We can always correct them. Voters can come forward and tell us about any errors,” he said.

The UEC has announced that the upcoming 2015 election will take place during the last week of October or the beginning of November, with a specific date to be announced at least 90 days in advance.

Last week it announced that a first-past-the-post voting system would be used in the election after a deadline for parliament to vote on a change to proportional representation passed without action.