Due to voting being cancelled in two townships, over 100,000 central Shan State citizens were unable to cast votes on 8 November, local election officials confirmed on Friday.
Officials from the Township Election Commissions in Mong Hsu and Kesi confirmed to SHAN that there were 50,365 and 51,362 eligible, registered voters in the two townships, respectively.
The Union Election Commission (UEC) announced on 27 October that voting had been entirely cancelled in both the townships, which are located in Loilem District.
The cancellation of voting was allegedly because of ongoing conflict between the Burma Army and the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N), which has affected 22 villages and caused the displacement of 6,000 civilians in the area.
Nang Ying, 30, delivered voter education courses in her native Mong Hsu. On behalf of locals in the area, she expressed frustration with the UEC’s decision.
Of the villagers who attended her training she said: “They know all about how to vote. They are dissatisfied because they expected to be able to vote and now they are not able to, they have lost that right.”
It was reported that the UEC’s decision came just over a week after the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) requested, on 19 October, that voting be cancelled in Mong Hsu and Kesi because of the fighting.
The area is perceived as being more supportive of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), who opposed the closure of polls and requested a formal evaluation of whether this action was necessary.
Nang Ying said that locals wanted both an end to the recent military offensives and a chance to participate in the country’s election.
She said: “Firstly, we want the fighting to end and we want to be able to vote like other townships.”
In total, voting was cancelled in areas within 17 townships in Shan State, including 42 village tracts in Hopang Township, in the Wa Self-Administered Division, and eight village tracts in Tang Yan Township in northern Shan State.
A local source who collected demographic data for Burma’s 2014 census estimated on Friday that the cancellation of voting in Tang Yan had affected 10,000 voters.
At the time of reporting, SHAN was not able to confirm the number of voters who had been denied the right to vote in Hopang.
By SIMMA FRANCIS / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Reporting by SAI YIPHONG / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
