Only one voting fraud case in Arakan, state election subcommission says

By Khin Tharaphy Oo 11 Nov 2020

Khin Tharaphy Oo | DMG
11 November 2020, Sittwe 

The Arakan State election subcommission’s secretary said statewide there had been only one complaint of voting fraud as of November 11, three days after Election Day. 

Ahead of the November 8 poll, some ballot papers were found to have been stamped before voting in Amyint Kyun village, Sittwe Township, for which the village election subcommission chairman was suspended from his duties. No further action has yet been taken against him, with election officials concentrating first and foremost on getting official election results out to the public. 

“We have no idea what will happen. Currently, we have not finished our jobs making announcements,” said U Thurein Htut, the state election subcommission secretary.  

The Arakan National Party (ANP), which is claiming to have won the majority of votes in most Arakan State constituencies, said there had not been any formal complaints of cheating or voter fraud that it was aware of. 

“There’s been no complaint so far,” said U Kyaw Win Chay, the party’s central victory committee information in-charge. “And the representatives from other places have made no grumble. There was also none during 2015. Our party has not made any vote fraud complaint in this 2020 election. We heard distinctly about voting fraud in Thandwe Township. However, there was no firm evidence. So we are not doing anything about it.” 

Early post-election reports indicated some problems at the polls in Arakan State on Sunday, including voter list omissions and at least one instance of alleged proxy voting, but most dissatisfaction with the democratic process has involved systemic issues like voter disenfranchisement, which were known going into Election Day.   

The UEC has not received any complaint made through legal channels, UEC member U Myint Naing said at a news conference on November 11, with disputes and voting irregularities so far settled by township election commissions’ coordination committees.