Nai Nyan, the chairman of the election sub-commission of Wakharu Village, Thanbyuzayat Township said: “We have found out that the list of voters includes people who have already passed away. I cannot tell you the exact number of those people. We have recorded about ten such people included on the voter-list. However, they have now been excluded from the voter-list.”

He added that the sub-commission would double-check the list which included the names of dead people and would recompile the list following the instructions issued by the Union Election Commission (UEC). Those people who are not yet on the voter list can also apply to be included.

According to the village election sub-commission, the voter-list will be reviewed to avoid errors such as the inclusion of dead people and to add voters originally omitted from the list.

Daw Cho Cho Win, Secretary of Thanbyuzayat Town’s ward election sub-commission said: “For our ward, the people who have already passed away are not included. This is because when someone dies, we have to report this to the [ward] office. So, dead people are already excluded from the list.” .

She said that in Thanbyuzayat Town the local civil development group would not send a corpse away to be incinerated until the family members of the deceased had informed the respective administration office. This meant that there should be very few dead people turning up on the voter list.

A resident from Thanbyuzayat Township said: “The reason that the deceased are still on the voter-list is that although family members inform the people at the office of their passing, they do not erase their names from Form 10 of the household document, so the names of the deceased are still there and listed as voters.”

Everyone can inform the election commission about ineligible voters if they have the supporting documents to prove their case and have completed Form 4. Anyone whose name is not on the voter-list can apply to be included by completing Form 3. If the applicants have submitted incorrect information, they can re-apply with Forms 4-8, according to widely distributed informational posters and pamphlets.

A Thanbyuzayat resident said: “They came to check whether our names and ID cards were correct and, ultimately, if we have been issued with ID cards. This is because they are concerned that the opportunity to cast votes will be missed. Our country is still moving towards reforms and we would like our people to participate in this process of reform.”

Despite all these safeguards there are still some errors in the voter-list data for some other villages and townships in Mon State.

According to the Mon State Election Sub-Commission, out of the eligible voter-lists compiled for 10 townships in Mon State, Moulmein Township has the most eligible voters, while Kyaik Hto has the fewest eligible voters.

There are more than 1,400,000 eligible voters in Mon State.

Edited in English for BNI by Mark Inkey