UEC arranging to ensure people quarantined can vote on Election Day

By Min Tun 04 Sep 2020

Min Tun | DMG
4 September, Sittwe

The Union Election Commission is coordinating with the Ministry of Health and Sports to make arrangements allowing people under COVID-19 quarantine to vote on Election Day, according to U Myint Naing, a member of the UEC.

“If an eligible voter arrives at a quarantine centre, even two or three days before Election Day, the relevant Health Department will inform the election subcommission of the voter’s address to determine the constituency he or she should vote in. We have contacts to ensure people under quarantine can vote on Election Day,” he said at a news conference on September 2 in Nay Pyi Taw.

Ballots and forms to tabulate votes at quarantine centres are also being arranged in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Sports, U Myint Naing said.

“There is a law to arrange for people admitted to hospital and people in prison to be able to vote. So, we also arrange [voting] for people under quarantine,” he said.

The number of coronavirus cases in Arakan State reached 503 on September 4, with more than 260 of them in Sittwe.

There were 559 people under quarantine in Sittwe as of September 2, according to the Arakan Humanitarian Coordination Team, a civil society organisation based in the state capital.

According to the Arakan State election subcommission, there are more than 1.6 million eligible voters in Arakan State for the 2020 election, which is scheduled to take place on November 8.