Over 90 percent of Mon State’s incumbent ward and village tract administrative positions will open in coming elections that aim to bring local-level leadership in line with new legislation, according to an official.
U Myint Than Win, Mon State government director, confirmed that the state government is preparing to hold polls for the ward- and village-tract level offices in accordance with an amendment to the Ward and Village Tract Administration Law passed last year. Most of the administrative officials have been serving in their roles since the previous government administration.
“We won’t re-elect every post. According to the plan that has been submitted, we have to re-elect over 90 percent [of the ward and village tract administrative positions]. The rest of the administrators have been elected in line with the current presidential term,” he said.
The date for the election has not yet been set, but is expected before the end of December, U Myint Than Win said.
“But it may be held in January depending on the situation. We haven’t been given a specific time frame to hold the election,” he said.
Mon State has 468 ward and village tract administrator positions, some of which were elected after their predecessors were removed by the new administration over ethics concerns, corruption or land use issues, according to the Mon State General Administration Department.
The administrators’ terms were realigned to match that of the Union presidency by a third round of amendments to the Ward and Village Tract Administration Law in December 2016.
The state government is currently in the process of forming a five-member election supervisory board, which will be instructed in administration of the poll. The board will then appoint the ten-house groups, ten-household heads, and hundred-household heads. Ward and village tract residents will then elect their administrators from the designed hundred-household heads.
Under Section 189 of the Constitution, ward and village tract residents elect their respective officials, while the government appoints district- and township-level administrators.
