On October 1, 2020 an updated voters list was released. This time, more than 2,000 voters were added to the original list.
“This time, people from Ye Chaung Phya have been included in the list. There were 2,232 people, but more than 500 people were still left out because there were errors in their date of birth and other facts. We’ll re–apply with Form #3,” said Nai Loon who helped the local villagers secure their voting rights.
The updated voters list now includes nine villages in Ye Chaung Phya region near Ye Township in Mon State. The area is under the control of the New Mon State Party (NMSP).
The original voters list was released on July 25th, but excluded people from Ye Chaung Phya. Ye Youth Network then visited the area and collected names to be added to the voter list before the end of August. The Network reported their list of names to the Mawlamyine District Election Sub-commission, which resulted in more than 2,000 Ye Chaung Phya residents being included in the updated voter list.
“Ye Chaung Phya has nine villages and 2,232 eligible voters. Chell Tike village has 193 voters, and they have to cast their votes at Kyaung Yaw village (controlled by the government). The remaining eight villages have 1,939 voters and they have to vote in Kyone Long village (also controlled by the government). It’s difficult for them to travel to the polling stations, and there will be more than 2,500 voters in a polling station so we’ve requested (the Election Sub–commission) to establish another polling station,” said Nai Loon.
The Ye community has also requested the Election Sub-commission establish another polling station at Pha Lan Chaung Wa village, in the middle of the Ye Chaung Phya region.
Democracy activists note that, in addition to such challenges to enumerate (register) eligible voters, restrictions related to COVID-19 may keep Ye Chaung Phya voters from appearing at the polling stations.
The increase in COVID-19 infections in Mon State, has led the NMSP to announce a ban on election campaign activities, and they imposed movement restrictions in their controlled area as of September 11.
This article was first published on HURFOM: Updated voter list now includes 2,000 Ye Chaung Phya voters
