In the second week of January, some 200 candidates from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) sent letters to township election officials across the country demanding the release of voter lists.
Nay Thu Yein, chairman of the Nay Thu Yein Law firm, told Myanmar Now that nearly 200 USDP candidates had sent letters to townships where they had lost their bids for seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw.
Khin Maung Win, chair of Yangon’s western district election sub-commission, said he had received letters from USDP candidates running in nine townships.
He said the letters had been forwarded to the regional election commission, but added it was unlikely it would release the lists, as it was not within its authority to do so.
“Our responsibility is just to report to the powers that be. No one will give the voter lists,” he said, adding that even at the Union level, election officials are not authorized to release voter data.
District-level election commission officials have confirmed that township commission offices in the northern, southern and eastern districts have received the letters.
A letter from USDP candidate Myo Thein, who ran in Yangon’s Kyauktada township, demanded the release of the voter list within three days of receiving notice.
“If the relevant commissions do not comply, they will be prosecuted under the existing law on civil rights charges in order to obtain truth and justice in accordance with the desire of Myo Thein (also known as Mya Thein),” the letter read.
Section 15(b) of the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law states that township election commissions may allow candidates to copy the voter list free of charge if they apply to do so.
However, officials from Union Election Commission (UEC) sub-commissions interviewed by Myanmar Now said that copies of the second revised voter list for the 2020 election had already been given to candidates before polling day in response to demands from civil society groups and the candidates themselves. They said the commission had no obligation to issue the voter lists again after the election.
“We already gave the voter lists at polling stations on the day of the election. The final list has never been requested before. We have no right to give it,” said Hnit San Oo, the secretary of the northern Shan state election sub-commission.
He explained that the final voter lists were counted in front of each party’s polling station representatives, polling station heads, and other officials. These final voter lists were later sealed with other election documents for record-keeping.
“It has been counted and sealed in front of the authorities, so it can only be reopened again in front of all members if the constitutional tribunal orders it,” he said.
Hnit San Oo explained that a tribunal order would only be issued if it became necessary to re-examine the documents in the context of an election objection lawsuit or another electoral dispute.
Thein Swe, the chair of the Kyeemyindaing township election sub-commission in Yangon, said that before the polling day, the voter lists were put on a CD and given to candidates free of charge.
“I told them to take photos of Form 19 [the final voter list used on polling day]. That’s where they will find the data they are asking for. They had their representatives at the polling stations. If they had protested at the time, any issues would have been solved immediately,” he said.
A law firm representing the USDP candidates said it would file a petition to the Union Supreme Court to compel the UEC sub-commissions to release the voter lists.
“As there is no response to the notice, we are now preparing for lawsuits to issue writs of mandamus,” said lawyer Aung Thurein Tun, referring to court orders requiring public officials to perform their duties.
Myo Win Kyaw, the USDP candidate for Tamwe township’s seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw, said that some USDP candidates are also consulting with their own lawyers.
Tamwe’s election sub-commission sent a letter to Myo Win Kyaw on January 14 stating that election documents used at the polling station, including the voter list, had been sealed and stored in storerooms at the township sub-commission offices.
Myo Win Kyaw, who previously ran in a by-election held in 2018, claimed that at the time, he had no trouble obtaining the voter list even after the election was held.
“I submitted an application to copy the voter list in 2018. It was issued after the election,” he said.
Thein Paing, who served as chair of the Tamwe township election sub-commission in 2018, said that Myo Win Kyaw was mistaken.
He told Myanmar Now that copies of the final voter list were given to candidates before the day of the by-election, but not after.
“If I were the current chair of the commission, I would sue him for insulting my reputation,” he said of Myo Win Kyaw’s accusation that the current chair was not properly performing his duties.
Dr. Nanda Hla Myint, a spokesperson for the USDP, declined to comment on the situation, saying only that the letters may have been sent on the advice of the party’s legal aid committee.
In an article published in the state-run Myanma Ahlin on January 15, UEC member Myint Naing wrote that no court has the right to investigate the decisions of the commission and its various sub-commissions, or the election tribunal.
Mya Nandar Thin, the director of the New Myanmar Foundation, which monitors elections in the country, said that trust would be achieved only when all stakeholders work together to address electoral issues.
“Everyone has to sit down and ask what happened. We have to work together to find out what the real problem is. In this way, we will have a positive solution on how to prepare for the next election,” she told Myanmar Now.
The letters are just the latest salvo in the USDP’s ongoing effort to challenge the legitimacy of the November 8 election, which the ruling National League for Democracy won by a landslide.
Together with 19 allied political parties, the USDP sent an open letter to the president on November 25 calling for the UEC to be prosecuted for electoral fraud and unfair practices.
On December 6, it sent a letter to the UEC calling for it to transparently account for mistakes in the voter list and alleged ballot inflation.
Also in early December, the military asked the relevant sub-commissions for permission to copy election documents as part of an investigation into voting at military polling stations.
However, in a statement issued on December 7, the UEC rejected the request, saying that it was not in line with the law.
The military has released reviews of its own voter lists a total of 22 times until now.
