Maungdaw: A day’s training of village level election commission was imparted in Maungdaw on Sunday with 300 trainees attending, said a participant.

"The training was a day-long lecture on election rules and other election-related laws. Around 300 people from all villages in Maungdaw Township attended the training," he said.

The training started at 9 am and concluded at 4 pm. U Myint Than, District Officer of Law, U Myint Win, District Immigration Officer, and U Si Thu Aung, Secretary of the Maungdaw District Election Commission imparted the training, the source said.

It was mandatory for at least three people from each village to attend the training - the chairman of the village election commission, the clerk of the village administration, and another member of the village election commission.

"We acquired a lot of knowledge about the election at the training, especially how to keep the ballots, how to count the ballots, and how to build election polling booths. The trainers explained many things related to election laws," he said.

U Tha Tha Maung, Chairman of the Maungdaw District Election Commission, and U Aung Kyaw Nyunt, Chairman of Maungdaw Township, were present as observers at the training.

In Maungdaw, district and township level election commissions have been recently formed with 15 members in each group. Most of the election commission members are retired government officials.

Training for election commission members was also held in Buthidaung with over 300 participants.

The village-level election commission training was the first one held in the area since authorities formed the village commissions. Authorities have been holding election commission trainings in townships across Burma but are yet to declare a date for the election.