Sa Ai Suu — Many residents of Karen State’s Kyain Seikgyi Township remain undecided about which party to vote for in next month's national election. The large number of parties running in their township has created confusion for some people. The fact that many of the the township’s voters don't speak Burmese fluently means that many local people won't be fully informed about the voting process on polling day.
“Most of the eligible voters in my area are uneducated. There are many parties and candidates in our area so the local residents are feeling very confused. They don’t have any experiences in voting and they don’t know which party and candidate are good so they face difficulty in voting,” Saw Win Naing from Khale village in Kyain Seikgyi Township told KIC.
He added that as voting has been canceled in many villages in Kyain Seikgyi Townshp due to security reasons, many voters have lost their voting rights and he is very worried that uneducated elders will not know how to vote cast their ballot on polling day. Eleven parties will run in the upcoming election in Kyain Seikgyi Township including four Karen parties, two Mon parties, the National Development Party, the National Unity Party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). A total of 37 candidates will run in the election from this township.
“Local residents have no experience in voting. Also, there are many uneducated people and those unable to understand Burmese. These can be challenges for us,” said Saw Thein Win Soe, an Upper House candidate from the Karen People’s Party (KPP) who is running in Kyain Seikgyi Township’s Constituency No 11.
The Karen State Civil Society Network (KSCN) conducted more than 40 voter education trainings in three village tracts in the township during the run up to the election.
Based on the voter list released on September 14th, the township commission said Kyain Seikgyi Township has over 55,000 eligible voters. The majority of the township residents are ethnic Mon and Karen people.
Translated by Thida Linn with editing by BNI staff.
