Ten thousand affected by voter’s list problem in Mon State

Ten thousand affected by voter’s list problem in Mon State
by -
Min Aue

About ten thousand people are affected by an incorrect voter list in Mawlamyaing constituency, in Mon State, according to a Mon election campaign manager.

mon-mm-sep_min_aue"Names of dead people are included on the voter list. Some people, who are not living in the village, are also included. The names of many other people are not included," Nai Aung Chan, the Mon party's election campaign manager, said.

Villagers whose names are not included on the voter list have to inform the township or village election commission office to correct the mistake. However, the authorities are not making the corrections, according to Nai Aung Chan.

"My family has five members. My mother and my sister want to vote for the NLD party but I want to vote for the Mon party. When I went to look at the voter list in the village administration office, I could not see my mother and my sister's name," a voter from Mawlamyaing said.

"There are many people who would like to vote for the NLD and the Mon party. So, the commission office doesn't want to correct the list," she alleged.

Township administration authorities counted the ballot of absent voters in Katoe and Kawtnut village as advance votes. For instance, if a person is away from his village during election period, the ballot with the person's name will become an advance vote. Another example is that if a student studying in another city, far from his native town, the ballot with his name becomes an advance vote.

According to voters, incorrect voter lists have also been published in Taung-Oo constituency, in Bago Region. Some voter's names are not included and there mistakes in citizenship identity card numbers and incorrect parent's names.

There are about 158,000 voters in Mawlamyaing constituency, in Mon State, and 6,484,562 voters in the 45 vacant constituencies included in the by-elections on April 1st.

Candidates from the NLD, AMDP, USDP, and NUP parties are running in Mawlamyaing constituency.