CNI News
10 October 2025
In Myanmar, public interest in the upcoming December 28 election remains low, and few people have come to check the voter lists, according to political parties.
During previous elections held under the civilian government, the public showed great enthusiasm—many people personally checked their names on the voter lists and corrected any errors themselves.
However, because the results of the last election were annulled citing disputes over voter list errors, public trust in the upcoming election has weakened, and many are showing little interest or engagement, according to observers.
Among voters, there may be some who are interested and others who are not. If candidates and political parties work together to encourage greater participation, voter interest could improve, said U Thein Tun Oo, spokesperson for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), to CNI News.
A person checking the voter list
“We’re all trying to encourage the public to take more interest in the election. When the voter lists are announced, people should check if their names are included. If not, we’ve already explained how they can apply to have them added.Even if voter enthusiasm is low, political parties and their candidates should cooperate to fix errors in the voter lists. There will always be some people who care and some who don’t — we can’t blame them for that. It’s their freedom and their right to think as they wish.”, he said.
At present, the public rarely visits to verify voter lists, and there is little interest in correcting inaccuracies or errors found in them.
Because the voter lists have shown such errors since their initial release, the Union Election Commission (UEC) must issue accurate and reliable lists to ease public concern, said Sai Htay Aung, chairman of the Tai Leng (Shanni) Nationalities Development Party (TNDP), to CNI News.
Voters waiting in line to cast their ballots
“People who were interested before are now seeing these voter list errors again, and they’re starting to feel the same doubts and disappointments as before. In the 2020 election, voter list mistakes caused major problems. Now, as soon as the lists were announced, similar errors have appeared again. To reduce public concern, the UEC needs to publish accurate lists. After the first announcement, the public already had some doubts. But if the second announcement is correct and reliable, public trust could improve. The UEC must take responsibility for this, even though we’ve heard that the lists were compiled by administrative departments, not directly by the UEC. Still, the UEC must oversee and clarify things through the administration.”, he said.
Voters must check the voter lists themselves to ensure they are complete and accurate.
The first round of voter list announcements runs from September 30 to October 13, 2025, and the UEC has been urging the public daily—through state media, newspapers, and social media—to come and verify their names.
The first phase of the 2025 election will be held on December 28 in 102 townships, with the remaining townships to follow in January 2026.
