After advance voting began nationwide, there have been cases where the anonymity of voting has been breached as well as possible instances of voter manipulation and voter suppression.
The Union Election Commission (UEC) announced that advance voting will begin from October 29 to November 5. After two days of advance voting, possible instances of vote manipulation and voter suppression has been reported.
Kyun Yin Village, Pakokku District, Pauk Township saw an altercation between the local villagers and the local election commission.
This altercation arose after villagers claimed that the staff from the polling station were registering votes that were contrary to the wishes of the elderly that had come to vote.
"There were around 40 elderly persons that casted advance votes. Around 25 out of those had issues with voting. Family members wanted to get into polling booths to help but representatives from the other party complained. So the commission (local commission head) member did not address that but instead went inside to help out. When some elders saw this happening, they drew the conclusion that if he is doing that then he is writing in votes for the USDP (Union Solidarity and Development Party). Afterwards, the news that green (USDP) is being voted in instead of red (NLD), against the wishes of the voter, spread in the village. It became a clash with the commission after that," said Ko Aung Khine Soe from Kyun Yin Village.
The incident between the villagers and comission staff on October 29 in Kyun Yin Village.
Regarding the incident on the night of October 29, members from the election commission and authorities from parties had to defuse the situation and that alleged polling station staff members have their duties put on hold, investigations will be launched and that over 40 votes will be taken as void and allowed to re-vote, according to Pakkoku's election commission chair U Win Sein.
Mi Kun Chan, a Pyithu Hluttaw candidate from the National League for Democracy (NLD) representing Paung Township, Mon State, said that situations will arise at village-tract levels as the advance voting period is protracted during this election due to Covid-19.
"It is not okay to make the advance voting period long. It is due to COVID-19 and it might be okay in towns but will definitely see daily problems in townships with many village tracts. Local commission staff are carrying things out as most convenient to them. So adding the danger of possible vote theft on top of inept activities from township level commission members mean that there is worry for vote manipulation. Everywhere, there are reports that the elderly are being conned because they don't know how to vote. And it is a huge trouble to guard the votes overnight. I think that people should just come on November 8 to vote instead of casting advance votes," wrote Mi Kun Chan on his social media page.
Along with the words, a picture of envelopes given out by the election commission for advance voting was uploaded. The envelopes were not brown to use for voting but general, everyday use envelopes. The UEC had already distributed special envelopes which were brown and had exact specifications of which parliament it was for. The advance ballot from voters will be put inside and glued shut.
Voters and political party members have reported many cases of some envelopes being torn or opened.
USDP issued a statement, also on October 29th, that they had requested for only one person representing one party to follow along with advance voting processes, along with several complaints following several incidents; In (H)North Ward, Thingangyun Township, Yangon Region the People's Pioneer Party (PPP) found that a huge crowd had gathered on the road outside of the polling station, D|E/8 Nga Moe Yeik San Pya wards saw many of the envelopes taken and cast into the ballot box was open, the 348th ward commission had also needed to announce that open envelopes were to be glued, over 50 NLD supporters gathered near the polling booth so the USDP had to bring 52 men and so on.
Similarly, Magway Region Chief Minister Dr Aung Moe Nyo had also written on his social media page that votes were supposedly being cast by scratching with a pen instead of the designated stamping procedure in places such as Zee Kyun and Kan Hla Kyaung villages.
"Is it purposely made for the vote to be void? Over 60 years old have to vote and they are being asked to doodle instead of stamping," wrote the Magway Chief. He also uploaded screenshots of people informing of such incidents in his message box.
Also on October 29th, a photo of the advanced ballot box being carried on a NLD endorsed rickshaw in No.20 ward, Aung Theik Di 3 street, South Dagon Township, went viral on social media.
On October 22nd, 58 advance votes that were open arrived in Dagon Township from the military engineering corp, which were decided to be void by the township election commission after discussing with candidates from multiple parties competing in the same township.
Many candidates had also pointed out that a person's vote is supposed to guarantee anonymity as a personal freedom but it had since disappeared in advance voting.
"What's for sure is that the vote anonymity had disappeared day one into advance ballot casting. It is not happening in just one place but in many places," said Pyithu Hluttaw candidate Ko Nay Yan Oo from People's Party (PP) for Kamaryut Township.
No.38, Section 9 of the election law for both Pyithu and Amyothar Hluttaw(s) dictates that polling stations are to be built in a place where the people can easily access, to protect the anonymity of the voter and to announce in advance the locations of polling stations.
Similarly, no.41 of Section 10 also says that staff responsible for any polling stations must give the voter the ballot paper must be given to the voter after clarifying that the eligibility of said voter is in the list and after the voter had either signed or imprinted a thumbprint on the list.
In no.42, it is also said that if the voter is not able to read or do not understand how to vote, the voter's biological father, mother, wife, husband, son, daughter, sibling may cast a vote for him or her. If such persons are not available, the in-charge of the polling station must carry out the task. Afterwards, the voter himself/herself must cast the vote into the ballot box.
The polling stations have been allowed to be mobile (in light of the elderly voters and COVID-19), but have taken no precautionary measures to safeguard the anonymity of the voting with commission members standing and watching the voters closely.
Pictures have also been circulated on social media, which showed votes that were being carried in plastic bags due to the lack of ballot boxes.
Questions must be raised to protect the anonymity of the voters and to safeguard instances of vote manipulation.
There are 38 million eligible voters in Myanmar for the 2020 general elections.
