Secretary of Rakhine National Party in Myan Aung Township Win Naing Oo said that in casting advance votes in wards and villages in Myan Aung Township, there were incidents that advance voters in some wards and villages experienced  no UEC word in stamps and instead of stamping, they were asked to write down using bullpens and had to write the right marks.

“This year's 2020 General Election isn’t like the 2015 General Election. In 2015, only senior citizens and in poor health can cast advance votes. But for this year, to avoid the crowding due to COVID-19 pandemic, 60 years above are put in the list to advance voting, there, some ward and village tracts administrators faced challenges. As they lack experience, instead of stamping, they asked people to write marks. So, we had arguments with party representatives on the incidents of using ballpens and the legality of it. We submitted the sub-election commission and they submitted again to the union election commission. Finally, UEC approved using ballpens and drawing the correct symbol. It is the very first challenge we faced on October 29 when advance voting began,” said Win Naing Oo, Secretary of Rakhine National Party in Myan Aung Township.

He continued by saying that in the west ward in Myan Aung, what they experienced was the stamp has no UEC word in it. When the village election commission asked the matter to the township commission, they confessed on the first day that there was no UEC word in the stamps. When the rest party representatives asked whether these advance votes were legal or illegal, they denied that the stamp had “UEC”. Candidates went to town and asked the township election commission, there is no specific yes or no. We are still waiting for the result.

There are 6 parties and 6 private candidates totaling 29 candidates representing Myan Aung in the 2020 General election. In Myan Aung, there are more than 500,000 eligible voters and ANP, ALD, NLD and USDP parties will be competing in the upcoming General Election.