Fishermen in Myeik may lose chance to vote

Published 3 November 2020

Zaw Moe Oo

MYEIK-----Hundreds of people may face loss of chances to vote if the fishermen in Myeik Archipelago cannot return back to their relevant constituencies in time.

It is now open season and those fishermen are now out at sea. For the fishermen, the Nov 8 election coincided with the dates to leave the sea.

Although fishermen were striving to give advance votes for the upcoming election, they didn’t get the permission of early voting. That’s why they already faced loss of their citizen rights.

“We went to the polling station but we didn’t give advance votes because we are under 60 years old. The authorities told us that they didn’t allow the people who are under 60 years old to vote early. Only people above 60-years old can give the advance votes. So, we returned back home. We were recognized as the eligible voters but we have no chance to start early voting. We, the fishermen, already lost our rights. Now, we are going to leave for sea. We want to give the advance votes for our favorite party. Now, there will be unequal rights. There are about 1,000 fishing boats around the Myeik archipelago. We had a chance to give the vote in the previous election-2015. The current election date coincided with the time for leave to sea. That’s why we can’t give advance votes. We would like to urge the authorities to give a chance of advance vote before leaving the sea,” said Tun Nyunt, an owner of fishing boats.

The fishery owners are inconvenienced to send back the fishermen to their relevant constituencies.

Although the reports on early voting of fishermen were submitted before the election period, no one took the responsibility.

“Fishery industry plays a vital role in Taninthari Region. If the candidates and civic and social organizations must carry out to implement the early voting system for fishermen, they can get their citizen rights. As they aim to choose their favorite government, the fishermen already lost their valuable ballot paper,” said Htay Hlaing, Joint Secretary of Cuttlefish Entrepreneurs Association.

The Myeik District election sub-commission must carry out the electoral process under the guidelines of the Union Election Commission and then they don’t allow the fishermen for early voting.

In Taninthari Region, there are over 1,000 fishing boats and a boat has between 20 and 40 fishermen.