Ko Saw Kyaw Swar from the Karen State Civil Society Network (KSCN), which has been running voter education workshops in seven townships in Karen State, told the BNI Newsroom that the majority of the voters lack voting experience and are illiterate.

“Voters will cast their votes, but only about 20 percent will be able to cast their votes correctly because they are illiterate,” he said, adding “people in urban areas can watch [voter education programs] on TV, but in the villages many don’t have TVs so they don’t even know how to stamp their ballot properly.”

In the past election voters had to tick their ballot, but in the upcoming election voters are supposed to stamp their ballot. Saw Kyaw Swar said that this change may cause confusion among voters, and he worries that their ballots may be deemed invalid due to being stamped twice or incorrectly.

Nan Say Awa, the incumbent state parliament MP for Hpa-an Constituency 2 who is running again on the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party ticket, have her own concerns about the ability of her constituents to vote correctly. “The groups giving voter education can’t reach all areas. There are many villagers that lack knowledge about how to vote properly,” she told the Election Newsroom, concluding “one thing is for sure, no more than 50 percent will be able vote correctly due illiteracy and other language difficulties.”

Kawkareik Township resident Saw Kyaw Poe agrees, saying “we have to give trainings in our area. We still haven’t been able to do it yet. Many of the local residents still don’t know how to stamp their ballot correctly.”

There are a total of 256 candidates - from 18 political parties as well as independent candidates - are running in Karen State. Polling stations will not be opened in 94 village tracts due to security reasons. The state has over 800,000 eligible voters, but if Ko Saw Kyaw Swar’s prediction is correct then the ballots of 640,000 of them could be deemed invalid.