Soe Htike Aung
The Chairperson of Kayan National Party (KNP), the candidate of this year election, Khoon Bi Htoo, said the draft list of eligible voters should be released for the 2020 general election.
“Now they should already announce the voting lists. By doing it so, the public can have more time, and yet they can check out the list,” said Khoon Bi Htoo to Kantarawaddy Times.
Although the Union Election Commission (UEC) announced about the 2020 general election to hold on November, the basic voteable candidate lists and lists of eligible voters have not been released until today.
It pointed out that the responsible election commissions from each state/division should cooperate with Department of Immigration to release the draft list of eligible voters, aged over 18, and should not manage the voting rights to be done On Paper.
“We have known the election commissions from each state/division and township still have to manage the basic voting list and voting rights issue On Paper, so the Department of Immigration still could not manage to release the draft list of eligible voter, who are aged over 18 and have the rights to vote on the election day; and yet, they even could not poster the basic voting list for the public to check it out.
Although the Union Election Commission announced that they will hold the regular press conference only after May 31st due to the current outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the press conference has not been held until today.
Ko Kyaw Htin Aung said the voter number can be declined more than last year if the press conference is not happened; likewise, the suspicion of public also be less only if the Union Election Commission organizes the regular election press conference on time.
“We can know what to prepare for the election and the suspicion of public only if the Union Election Commission, who is representing to the whole nation, starts holding their regular press conference quickly. Unless they do and if the public’s attentiveness is getting poor, I would say our democracy system will also become weak. Because the voter number in 2020 will be lower than previous 2015 election according to our analyzed data.”
The 2010 election was held on November 7th, and the 2015 election was held on November 8th. Regarding to 2020 election, the exact date of election still could not be confirmed due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, and it said the Union Election Commission (UEC) is preparing to be able to hold it within November 2020.
According to the release of Loikaw Township General Administration Department, the political party lists in Loikaw Township, Kayah State, updated by January 2020 are (1) National League for Democracy, (2) Union Solidarity and Development Party, (3) National Unity Party, (4) Kayan National Party, (5) Kayah State Democratic Party, (6) National Progressive Party, (7) Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, (8) United Democratic Party, (9) National Democratic Force, and (10) Union Betterment Party, and (11) Pa-O National League Party, respectively.
According to the list of the Myanmar 2014 population and housing census, the population of Kayah State is only 286,627 persons.
According to the list released by Union Election Commission (UEC) on May 2020, there are only 97 political parties registered in Myanmar.
According to the news published by the Irrawaddy News Department, it stated the commission person-in-charges responded in the interview with journalists at Naypyidaw UEC Office on June 4th that there are over 37-millions of eligible voters for 2020 election throughout Myanmar and among that population, it does not include the military personnel and their family members yet, and they will release the list of eligible voters in accordance with the relevant region constituency before the election.