Irrawaddy-Jan 11
Myanmar’s junta began forcibly gathering household registrations on Monday in preparation for a national election that has been denounced both at home and abroad as a fake exercise to cement military rule. The junta announced the census will be conducted nationwide until Jan. 31 but didn’t openly say it would be used to compile voter lists for its planned August election. Village, tract and ward administration bodies in Yangon townships started collecting registrations to verify the number of residents in each ward on Jan. 9. “Today [Jan. 10], they abruptly announced it with loudspeakers and summoned the people to submit name lists [at collection points],” said U Tin, a Kyauktada township resident. One resident from each household had to submit their registration paper along with a list of any guests at a temporary street-corner booth, he explained. The regime’s poll has been denounced as a sham by Myanmar’s parallel civilian government, other revolutionary forces, and democracies around the world.
In Myanmar, the election is widely viewed as the regime’s attempt to tighten its grip on power following last year’s coup while the US and UN said it would be neither free nor fair. “Of course, they will just make the election happen, but the whole thing is laughable. What will they [junta authorities] do if we don’t go and vote? They are completely ridiculous,” U Tin said. The civilian National Unity Government (NUG)’s Home Affairs and Immigration Ministry warned on Jan 9 it will take action under the counter-terrorism law against anyone who joins junta efforts to hold an illegitimate election. “The junta led by Min Aung Hlaing is compiling voter lists with door-to-door data collections over 23 days, from Jan 9 to Jan 31. In some places, administrative bodies and immigration officers, the stooges of the military council, started forcibly collecting population and household registration lists on Jan 7,” the NUG statement said. Armed resistance groups around the country have released similar warnings. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-regime-begins-compiling-voter-lists-for-planned-election.html
