The announced voter-list of Mon State has included local people who have passed away as eligible voters.
“We have found out that the list of voters includes people who have already passed away. I cannot tell you the exact number of those people. We have recorded about ten people included on the voter-list. However, they have now been excluded from the voter-list,” said Nai Nyan, the chairman of election sub-commission of Wakharu Village, Thanbyuzayat Township.
U Nyan added that the sub-commission would double-check the list which included the deceased, and as the Union Election Commission (UEC) stated in its methods/instructions, the sub-commission would go ahead and implement the process [of voters]. Also, those who are not on the voter-list yet could apply for voter status.
According to the ward/village election sub-commission, the voter-list will be reconstituted to avoid errors in data such as inclusion of the deceased. Furthermore, valid voters originally omitted from the list will be added.
“For our ward, the people who have already passed away are not included. This is because when someone dies, we have to report this to the [ward] office. So, we already excluded those dead people from the list,” said Daw Cho Cho Win, Secretary of Thanbyuzayat Town’s ward election sub-commission.
Daw Cho Cho Win continued that after the family members of the deceased in Thanbyuzayat Town informed the respective administration office, only then would the local civil development group send that dead body away for incineration. Therefore, there is a minor number of deceased residents. And, there could be some mistakes on the voter list.
“The reason that the deceased are still on the voter-list is that although family members inform the people at the office of their passing, they do not erase the names from Form 10 of the household document, the names of the deceased are still there and listed as voters,” said a resident from Thanbyuzayat Township.
Everyone can object to ineligible voters [the election commission] if they have the supporting [to prove] documents and have completed Form 4. Anyone whose name is not on the voter-list can apply to be included with Form 3. If the applicants have submitted incorrect information, they can then re-apply with Form 4-8, according to posters and pamphlets distributed as educational information for vote casting in the upcoming national election.
“They came to check whether our names and ID cards were correct and, ultimately, if we have been issued ID cards. This is because they are concerned that the opportunity to cast votes will be missed. And our country is still moving towards reforms. We would like our people to participate in this process of reform,” said a resident in Thanbyuzayat.
Still, errors are on the voter-list data in some villages and in other townships of Mon State.
According to Mon State Election Sub-commission, as stated on the eligible voter-list, of ten townships, in Mon State, Moulmein township has the most eligible voters, while Kyaik Hto has the least eligible voters. There are more than 1,400,000 eligible voters in Mon State.
