Ballot problems and delays with advance voting for Myanmar overseas voters have raised concerns among citizens over the motives of authorities in charge of managing the polling process in the run-up to the nationwide elections early next month. Advance voting, which began last week, has been marred in one case by ballots being sent to the wrong embassy, by errors and omissions on the ballots themselves, and by incomplete voter lists and long waits to cast votes. About 35,000 Myanmar citizens are eligible for advance voting in 37 countries. Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC), which is responsible for managing the voting, has acknowledged the problems with voter lists and ballots at home and abroad and has vowed to ensure successful nationwide elections on Nov. 8. Although the UEC has rescheduled advance voting past the Friday cutoff in foreign countries where problems have occurred, it has yet to rectify the situation at home.
“There are a lot of errors on voting lists because they [the UEC and authorities] don’t have good intentions to ensure error-free lists,” Yangon resident Win Tun told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
“They have enough time, money and support from international organizations, but there are still many mistakes on voter lists,” he said. “People have informed the UEC about the errors, but there were still mistakes on them when they got the lists back from the UEC.”
He said that in the general elections of 1990, when there was no technological or international support, the country’s voter lists were correct. That year, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the elections, but was kept from assuming power by the military junta that ruled the country.
Full Article: Myanmar Citizens Voice Concerns Over Advance Voting.
