The Union Election Commission (UEC) is not entrusted by any law to seek ways of solving election problems in coordination with the Union Parliament and the government, according to the statement by the UEC on January 28th.

In its statement, the UEC said it is an organization which can freely work for election matters. Being a Union-level body entrusted under Section 402 of the Constitution and Section 11 of the Union Election Commission Law, the UEC is not authorized by any law to seek a resolution of post -election problems in coordination with the Union Parliament and the government.

At the press conference held on January 27th, Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun from the Tatmadaw True News Information Team said there are 8.6 million irregularities which could lead to potential voter frauds. The Tatmadaw has called on the UEC and the government to deal with it

Defects in the lists of voters, occurred in the referendum for the 2008 Constitution, the 2010 General Elections and the 2015 General Elections and is nothing new. If there are some defects in the lists of voters, this is normally the result of a clerical mistake and does not amount to vote fraud. The UEC has received 287 complaints about the 2020 General Elections—193 by the candidates and 94 by voters. The UEC has formed an election tribunal to investigate the complaints.

In its response to the military and USPD attempt to cast doubt on the integrity of the election the UEC outlined the conduct of the election: “Vote counts were carried out in the presence of the public, relevant election sub-commission members, polling station officers, members, candidates, representatives, observers, media and the CSOs.

The relevant election sub-commissions compiled the number of votes for each candidate with Form-16 signed by candidates. These lists were announced outside the polling stations. Township election sub-commissions compiled the lists with Form-19, in the presence of the public and candidates, representatives, relevant election sub-commissions and witnesses to sign the document, and then announced the winning candidates. Township election sub-commissions approved it, “according to the statement.

According to the UEC statement “the fundamental principle of the State, any person or any organization cannot coordinate to change the will of voters by means of alteration which is in violation.

Due to the restriction on the travel during the COVID-19 period, the use of indelible ink which can last for around one week on the index finger and the checks on the fact about the voters to get ballot papers, it is impossible to cast their votes twice, the UEC says.

Due to the cross-check by the Tatmadaw between the townships, there may be the inclusion of the very elderly, those aged below 18 and the deceased in the lists and the repetition of eligible voters in the lists.

The UEC put the lists of servicemen and their families sent by the military officials into the lists of voters without any scrutiny, the statement says.