Regime conducting population census in Arakan State for compiling of voter lists

10 Jan 2023

DMG Newsroom
10 January 2023, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime has begun conducting a population census in townships across Arakan State in order to facilitate the compiling of voter lists, according to village administrators and local residents.

The census is being collected in the townships of Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Ponnagyun, Sittwe and Ann in collaboration with teams trained for elections preparation by the military regime, and ward and village administrators.

“The Immigration Department issues a list of people and inspection teams check whether they match the list,” U Win Tha, the administrator of Kyaytaw Village in Sittwe Township, told DMG. “If there are more people in the census, more people are added, and if there are fewer people, they are added back to the list as dead.”

“The population census has been started in Buthidaung Township since January 5,” said a ward administrator in Buthidaung. “The populations on the ground and household lists have been checked to see if they match.”

Ko Myo Lwin, a local resident in Ann Township, said the population census collection in downtown Ann also began on January 5, and started in rural villages on January 9.

“The inspection teams check the household certificates, ID cards and mobile phones of the locals. Therefore, since the military regime takes all of a person’s information, there are some locals who are worried that they will do something to them,” he added.

DMG sought comment from U Hla Thein, spokesman for the Arakan State military council, regarding the military’s population census, but he could not be reached.

U Hla Thein wrote on his Facebook account on January 10 that working groups are collecting household lists on the ground in Sittwe, the Arakan State capital.

A total of 6,940 enumerators from 1,290 teams are involved in conducting the census for the junta’s upcoming election, which is slated for later this year.

On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a coup, citing voter fraud in a 2020 general election that the NLD won in a landslide.  The military regime is currently trying to hold elections in August 2023, using a system of proportional representation in contrast to the 2020 election’s first-past-the-post format.