CNI News

31 Dec 2022

In compiling voters rolls for the general election in some village tracts in Namkham in Shan State (North), people from non-Bamar ethnic groups have been registered as Bamar, according to local residents.

It is not fair to list the Shan, Palaung, Kachin and other ethnic peoples as Bamar, local residents told the CNI.

A local resident told the CNI, "In our Namhkam Township, administrators and immigration officers are compiling voting rolls in village tracts and registering members of other ethnic groups as Bamar. So, voting rolls are not correct. They are registering people of the Shan, Kachin and Palaung and other ethnic groups as Bamar. Authorities are likely to do the same in other townships. It is unfair to change the identity of other ethnic groups."

Immigration officers issue NRCs to the public.

Less than ten people in each village of the Shan and Palaung were registered according to their true ethnic identity, he added.

However, a resident of Lwehom Village told the CNI that authorities had admitted their mistakes and corrected the voting rolls.

He told the CNI, "They admitted their mistakes and said they have corrected them. We reported the issue to them yesterday. They said it was the mistake of computer operators and promised to correct the lists."

An ethnic leader said some immigration officers had entered all ethnic peoples as Bamar during the terms of successive governments because they thought it was too busy for them.

The Union Election Commission announced that it would hold a new general election in August, 2023.

Then, authorities have compiled voting rolls and issued national registration cards to those who do not have or lost the NRCs.