No monitors during advance voting elicits worry

Jury Chai – The All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP) is concerned there may be bias during the upcoming by-election advance voting because Hluttaw (Parliament) candidates and polling station workers have not been granted monitoring authority to assess the voting process,which is organized by the Village/Ward (Election) Commissions.

Daw Myinit Myint Wae, an AMDP candidate contending for a seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw (People’s Parliament) in Moulmein constituency, Mon State, said, “I’m very worried that there will be bias during the advance voting.”

She pointed out that during the 2010 election, the names of deceased orineligible voters were included on the advance voting list, and that the same person’s name was found on the voting lists of many different wards to allow repeated ballot casting.

All of Burma will participate in the by-election advance voting on the 30th and 31th of this month.

Daw Myint Myint Wae detailed that candidates have not been allowed to monitor advance voting and will only know the names on the advance voting lists once they are released by the Election Commission on election days.

Under the watch of the Village/Ward Election Commissions, the people eligible to cast advance voting ballots are soldiers, police staff and civil servants who will be out of the polling area on election days due to work, people with medical disabilities, women giving birth, and elderly who are unable to make the trip.

In the Moulmein constituency, there are 119 polling stations and over 160,000 constituents voting on the seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw.

Candidates fromthe National League for Democracy(NLD), All Mon Regions Democracy Party(AMDP), National Unity Party(UNP) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will compete for the Moulmein constituency seat.