YANGON — Thousands of Myanmar citizens living overseas are facing difficulties with advance voting at embassies abroad, according to local media and social network reports.
Some people have complained that their names are not on the eligible voters list of the Union Election Commission (UEC), even though they were invited to cast their ballots by embassy officials. Others complain that they have not received all three ballots, necessary to select candidates in the lower, upper and regional houses.
Voters from ethnic minority groups actually need four, to select an ethnic representative as well. The Myanmar Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, issued a statement on October 16 acknowledging that some ballots are missing and that some were sent to wrong addresses.
Myanmar citizens in Singapore complained about the embassy’s mismanagement of the advance voting process. Police were dispatched to keep the peace as thousands lined up on the road outside the embassy, with some sleeping there overnight. Myanmar embassies in Washington DC and Tokyo also made statements about the difficulties they are facing.
Myanmar embassies in Japan and Singapore have extended the deadline for advance voting.
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