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YANGON: On Sunday (November 8), voters head to Myanmar’s polling stations to participate in the general elections taking place amid a pandemic, with a daily average of 1,000 new COVID-19 cases.
Polling stations, about 50,000 of them, open at 6 a.m. in Myanmar, and when they close 10 hours later at 4 p.m., up to 37 million registered voters, in a country of 54 million people, would have cast their vote. .
A two-month campaign period, which had been fraught with challenges posed by the pandemic, officially ended at the end of Friday.
Closures were imposed in severely affected areas such as Yangon and Rakhine, restricting campaigning by political parties, unable to conduct physical walks and rallies in many areas.
Elderly voters sit waiting for their turn to cast their early vote at a polling station in Yangon. (Photo: Naung Kham)
But people have been encouraged to leave their homes on Sunday to vote. Masks are mandatory and contact is minimized by having voters place documents in clear plastic folders before handing them over to officials for inspection.
Provisions have also been made for COVID-19 patients, even when in isolation. They must wear N95 masks and gloves while voting and the officials who serve them will be dressed in full personal protective equipment.
READ: A look at Myanmar’s election and Aung San Suu Kyi’s expected victory
VOTING PROTOCOLS IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC
The Election Commission of the Union of Myanmar (UEC) said in early August that it would establish voting protocols with COVID-19 restrictions in mind, taking lessons from countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
A month before the general election, State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi said officials would plan at least three drills to avoid further problems on election day.
The authorities also increased the number of polling stations to 50,000, up from 40,000 in 2015. Newly installed polling stations should be minimal in size and with sufficient air circulation.
An elderly voter prepares her documents for inspection before casting her ballot during early voting week for those over 60 (Photo: Naung Kham).
Voters would also be divided into turns and each voting station would have a maximum of 1,000 people.
Before the elections, Myanmar had been purchasing COVID-19 medical equipment from China. Several daily flights had landed in Myanmar in recent weeks carrying supplies such as masks, protective suits, boots and gloves.
In late October, the electoral commission planned early voting for voters over 60 over the course of a week, in an attempt to protect this vulnerable group and alleviate overcrowding on Election Day.
Mobile teams also toured the country that week, allowing those too weak to vote at polling stations to cast their ballots from home.
Many older voters CNA spoke to during this early voting period said they were grateful for such arrangements.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
But some pointed out shortcomings.
Hla Myint Maung, 77, told CNA: “The envelopes used to store ballots are not good. The glue does not stick. I think that is going to cause problems.”
Local media also reported similar glitches that emerged during early voting.
The Myanmar Times quoted Yangon Region Election Commission member Kyaw Moe Kyi as saying that the poor quality paper used for the envelopes had caused them to not stick or tear.
But Mr. Kyaw Moe Kyi said that according to the electoral rules, the ballot papers are not annulled even if the envelopes are torn.
There were also concerns from voters using unauthorized stamps.
An elderly voter holds her National Registration Card while waiting for her turn to cast her vote. (Photo: Naung Kham)
Voters choose the party of their choice using stamps issued by the UEC to stamp on the ballot.
But during the early voting period, the UEC noticed an increase in cases of voters using unauthorized stamps, which would invalidate a vote.
One of the cases involved a political candidate who had allegedly given an unauthorized stamp to election officials.
Since then, the UEC has asked polling station staff to ensure that their stamps are not removed from the voting booths and has reminded voters to verify the authenticity of the stamps before using them.
AFTER THE ELECTIONS
With the National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s widespread prediction of Aung San Suu Kyi for another victory, following her victory in 2015, attention is already turning to what will happen after Sunday.
Myanmar State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi votes ahead of time before the November 8 general election in Naypyitaw, Myanmar on October 29, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Thar Byaw).
Ms. Suu Kyi has already made known one of her priorities for the next five years if, as expected, voters give the Myanmar leader and her party another term.
It will try, not for the first time, to change the 2008 constitution drawn up by the country’s military, especially the part that guarantees the military 25 percent of parliamentary seats, which gives it veto power.
READ: Comment – So much hope as Myanmar heads to the polls
Ms. Suu Kyi’s attempt to change the status during her tenure failed.
The NLD’s information committee secretary, Monywa Aung Shin, told the CNA that the 2008 constitution was “extremely rigid.”
“It was written in a way that was not meant to be easily amended,” Monywa Aung Shin said.
“But we will try again as we promised this to people. We may not have succeeded at first, but we will keep trying,” he said.
Another key aspect Myanmar has to work on is its economy, which has been hit by COVID-19.
Dr Sean Turnell, special economic consultant to the State Councilor, said it would take Myanmar 10 years for its economy to reach its full potential.
He said that if the government were re-elected, the economic reforms he had made in the first term would advance further in his next five-year term.
Dr. Turnell said Myanmar’s economic growth was 6.8 percent before COVID.
“After COVID, after the elections, what we would expect is that various reforms to the deregulation of infrastructure and then hopefully a reopening of the Myanmar economy to the region and the world can boost economic growth rates up to 7%, “he said.
Externally, Sunday’s elections will also be closely watched by the world, particularly other ASEAN members.
Moe Thuzar, fellow and co-coordinator of the Myanmar Studies Program at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak, said ASEAN has been closely following Myanmar’s democratization journey.
“It has supported Myanmar’s more active participation in ASEAN. As such, ASEAN has worked with successive administrations in Myanmar and will continue to do so,” he said.
“A possible second administration of the LND would bring the continuity of this two-way interaction.”
