As Myanmar's Election Nears, Migrant Voters Left in the Dark

[Jonathan Fairfield]

As Myanmar's Election Nears, Migrant Voters Left in the Dark

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — First-time voters among some 1.8 million officially registered Burmese migrants in Thailand say little to no information has been provided regarding voting in Burma’s upcoming general election, slated for early November.

The Burmese Embassy in Bangkok said last month that Burmese nationals living in Thailand would be able to register for enumeration on an overseas voter list by filling in form No. 15 and returning it to the embassy’s electoral committee for further scrutiny on their eligibility to vote.

Win Maung, Burma’s ambassador to Thailand, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the embassy had been receiving the forms from prospective overseas voters since the announcement was made.

“The information [on how to vote from Thailand] has been shared,” he said, through the 70-member, embassy-led Protecting Committee for Burmese Migrants Staying in Thailand, a network of NGOs and civil society organizations based in different parts of Thailand, including Chiang Mai in the country’s north, Mae Sai along the Thai-Burmese border, Nakhon Sawan in central Thailand and Phang Nga in the south.

Win Maung added that information on the deadline for returning the forms and procedural details for advanced voting would be made available as soon as directives were received from the Union Election Commission (UEC) in Naypyidaw. Burmese migrants who are deemed eligible to vote in the 2015 poll will be able to choose between voting in person at the Bangkok embassy in advance or on election day, which is yet to be announced.

But Burmese migrants, many of whom have lived in Thailand for years but did not have a chance to vote in Burma’s last nationwide election in 2010, largely remain in the dark when it comes to registering to vote abroad.

Read more: http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/as-election-nears-migrant-voters-left-in-the-dark.html