Two complaints have been filed with village election commissions in Chin State’s Tedim and Thantlang townships regarding voting practices in Burma’s November 8 general election.
Political parties have reported that people in these townships cast proxy votes on behalf of other people.
“The two cases were reported on election day. The cases are concerning the police,” Lin Kyaw, secretary of the Chin State Election Commission, told Khonumthung News. “We have only two cases where somebody cast a ballot at the polling station on behalf of another person.”
Lin Kyaw speculated that the problem might be rooted in a lack of voter education in Chin State.
“We didn’t give enough voter education to our people. The internet service is not good in our region. The TV line is not good in some areas either,” he said. “In my opinion, they did not do it intentionally. But I have no choice; even though we are upset, we have to open a file against them.”
There were 286,308 eligible voters in Chin State at the time of the most recent general election. A total of 222,905 voters casted their ballots for the Lower House, while 216,964 voted for Upper House representatives. Some 217,152 eligible voters voted for members of the Chin State parliament.
A total of 171 candidates ran for election for 39 posts in the state.
