Moe Kyaw — Many residents in Sagaing Region’s Kalay District still lack knowledge of the voting process, according to election monitoring organizations.
Hornbill Organization, an election monitoring organization, conducted voter education with more than 1,500 residents in Kalay town last weekend. Hornbill staff went door-to-door and found that many Kalay residents still do not properly understand the voting process, said the organization’s officer Ko Mone Noe.
“We have educated over 1,500 people. Ninety percent of them did not know how to vote at all. There are many people like them in Kalay town. Many of [the people we conducted voter education with] are housewives. Some of them want to vote for a party, but they don’t know its logo. They also don’t know that they have to vote three times: for the Lower House, Upper House, and the Regional Parliament. Also, they don’t even know that the Chin people need to vote a fourth time in order to elect the Chin Affairs Minister,” said Ko Mone Noe.
He added that there will likely be many invalid ballots on Election Day, since many Kalay residents do not know how to stamp the ballots properly.
The Kalay area was recently struck by a major flooding disaster, and the majority of local residents are still struggling to rebuild their homes and to re-establish their livelihoods so they often lack interest in the election, according to Ko Kyaw Thet Win, chairman of Kalay-based Upper Chindwin Youths Network.
“Among the areas affected by the natural disaster, some are still very difficult to access. We have found that these areas often lack interest in the election. There are also areas that don’t know that they have to stamp their ballot when voting. In terms of percentage, it’s around 45 percent. Organizations from here tried to reach them as much as they can, but for these people rehabilitation is more important than voting,” said Ko Kyaw Thet Win.
A trishaw driver from Kalay town said “I haven’t studied anything about the election. I’ve been too busy with my work. I don’t know how many times I have to vote. I will be voting from my village. I will just follow the instructions given by those that understand the process. I don’t think there will be much difficulty.”
