Open Myanmar Initiative (OMI), an organization working for parliamentary monitoring, is conducting research aimed at increasing the number of voters in the general election to be held in 2020.

There were a less number of voters in the previous by-elections and elections for city development committees. The 2015 general elections also experienced a lot of discarded and missing votes. Therefore, the current research focuses on the reasons for decreased numbers of voters in the previous elections and seeking cooperation with organizations working on educative campaigns for public voters and political parties, said OMI executive director Aye Kyaw.

"Fewer voters came to polling stations. Why did the number of voters decrease? We are finding facts so we can motivate people to cast their votes," he said.

He added that the findings would be publicized at least six months before the election.

"What we are trying is to ensure that more people cast their votes and to choose most suitable areas. I think we can study which parties are getting strong or which parties are getting weak. Our research will be useful to making an election strategic plan," said Aye Kyaw.

According to a statement published by the Union Election Commission, there were over 900,000 eligible voters for 13 vacant constituencies in the 2018 by-election. But, only about 400,000 came to vote accounting for just over 42 percent. The 2017 by-election also saw just about 34 percent of all eligible voters.

Mya Nandar Thin, executive director from New Myanmar Foundation, remarked that less public interest in voting might have been a lack of nationwide campaigns. The foundation is working on election monitoring and educative campaigns for voters.