Myanmar junta compels civil servants to report proof of voting

Mizzima

Civil servants in Myanmar’s administrative capital and regional hubs are being pressured to provide proof of their participation in the military-organized general election, which is scheduled to begin its first phase on 28 December.

Employees in Naypyidaw reported that departments issued directives on 26 December, warning staff that failure to vote would leave them to solve their own problems.

According to departmental sources, civil servants have been instructed to submit their voter registration numbers and the locations of their designated polling stations to their superiors.

“They told us we must vote, and that if we don’t, we’ll have to solve our own problems,” said an employee in Naypyidaw. “They informed us today (26 December) and asked us to re-submit the number used for voting, but I don’t understand what number they are referring to.”

In some instances, employees were asked to provide a specific number associated with their cast ballot, though several staff members expressed confusion over the requirement. Similar reports of mandatory voting reporting emerged from the Bago Region, where departmental employees were ordered to submit evidence that they had exercised their franchise.

The pressure on the civil service follows earlier accounts of university students being forced to cast advance votes under administrative supervision. These coercive tactics have drawn international condemnation, including from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who on 23 December called for an end to the use of violent tactics and intimidation to compel voting.

The military-led election is structured in three phases, beginning with 102 townships on 28 December, followed by 100 townships on 11 January and 63 townships on 25 January.