Polling Stations Not designated in Kalay, 11 Days before Elections

27 October 2010: The public in Kalay Myo, Sagaing Division have still not been informed about where they will vote on November 7 general elections in Burma, despite the fact that the election commission has published a list of registered eligible voters, according to residents.

“As of today, nobody, including members of the political parties contesting, knows where the polling stations are going to be in Kalay Myo,” says a Kalay resident. Some residents say they have been told that the voting booths will be set up at each of the respective local Peace and Development Council’s Offices.

“Registered voters list are published in only four different locations, so naturally the place is overcrowded with people checking their names everyday and, as a result, a lot of people are still not able to see if their names are included in the list,” a prosepective voter told Chinland Guardian.

According to an informed Kalay resident, those registered voters whose names have been published are to be issued a voter Identification Card or an invitation card, with respective local Village/Ward Peace and Development Council being responsible for distributing the cards at the voters’ home.

Adjacent to Chin State, Kalay Myo [Town] has about 400,000 residents, more than half of whom are ethnic Chins. And according to the Burmese Election laws, as an ethnic minority representing more than 0.1 percent of the total population of Sagaing Division, the Chins are eligible to vote for an additional representative for the Regional Legislature of Sagaing Division.

Voters in Kalay, according to information provided by the Election Commission, will have four different choices of candidates listed on the ballot paper on the Novemeber 7 polls: for the two Houses of National Parliament (Pyithu Hluttaw, Amyotha Hluttaw), the Regional(State) Legislature of Sagaing Division, and a fourth member that will represent the ethnic Chins in that regional legislative assembl.

Two Chin candidates are contesting for the regional legislative seat as Chin representative: Enoch, an independent candidate and No Than Kap of the Chin Progressive Party (CPP).

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Chinland Guardian