Yangon squatters at risk of voter fraud: MYNFREL
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Electoral fraud and vote rigging are likely to take place in areas where squatters live and where factories are concentrated, including Shwepyitha Township in Yangon Region, said an official from the Myanmar Network Organisation for Free and Fair Election
"There are 27 wards in Shwepyitha Township. Squatters live in 10 wards. Ward 18 has 5,000—the most of all the wards. In other wards there are 4,000 or 3,000 or 1,000," said Zin Mar Oo from MYNFREL.
"These figures are based on lists they have given us. But we found out there are also squatters in Ward 27. Those squatters are not on the voter lists. When visiting factories there, some employees said their managers had collected their names, while some said they gave their names more than once. Meanwhile, some told us to leave as their managers were out. They said they had no authority and they were afraid to speak with us. They could not tell us whether they were on the voter list."
Zin Mar Oo said it is possible that factory managers in Shwepyitha Township will exploit their employees’ lack of knowledge about the elections.
"There are cronies in the parliament. They can ask for votes and commit electoral fraud using lists [of squatters’ names]," she said.
Yangon Region election officer Khin Zaw Tun, on the other hand, said squatters’ votes could not be used without their will.
"They come from somewhere. Their names will be on the voter lists of their own regions. But if they want to vote where they are currently, they can apply with Form 3A," he said.
