Electoral Administration Voter List One of the major activities of election management authorities ahead of polls is preparing the list of registered voters. In Myanmar, this is a difficult task because there is no central citizen registry that could serve as a basis for the voter list. Instead, the Union Election Commission (UEC) had to collect and compile data from different sources, including the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, and Population and the General Administration Department (GAD), as well as existing voter lists. Two voter list displays were conducted ahead of the 2020 general elections, the first from 25 July to 17 August 2020, and the second from 1 to 14 October. It is worth mentioning that the law requires only one voter list display, so it is a commendable initiative from the UEC to hold a second one in an attempt to correct more errors. Each display was accompanied by the dissemination of voter education material by the UEC. Voters were able to submit requests for correction by submitting a Form 3(A) at their local election sub-commission within 14 days of the start of the display period. Six million corrections were done after the first display alone, on a total of approximately 38 million registered voters. Simultaneously with the second voter list display, the UEC also launched a website 102 so that voters could check their voter information and polling station, as was the case in 2015. However, voters could not request corrections online but instead had to go in person to their local election commission office, which in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders may have prevented some from doing so. A legal amendment would be welcome so that voters can request corrections online in the future. In 2015, election officials nationwide distributed paper slips to voters so that they could present themselves at the correct polling station with their serial number on the voter list and thus fluidify the polling process. While this policy was discontinued by the UEC during the 2018 by-elections, local election sub-commissions in certain parts of the country, for instance Yangon and Magway region, continued to issue these voter slips this year in a commendable effort to assist voters. The UEC stated it believes the voter list of the 2020 general elections marked an improvement over those used in the past. However, ANFREL’s assessment of the quality of the voter list is inconclusive. Many of the stakeholders interviewed expressed the opinion that the voter list was adequate; many disagreed. There were numerous reports of voters who found themselves deregistered even though they had participated in previous elections, some as recently as April 2019 with the Yangon municipal polls. In a country of nearly 55 million people, it is impossible to gauge how widespread voter registration issues are without conducting an audit of the voter list. However, the UEC does not allow election observers or other neutral third-parties to obtain and inspect a copy of the voter list. Therefore, ANFREL invites Myanmar’s authorities, including election officials, to align with international standards 103 and permit audits of the voter list in an effort to foster public trust in the electoral register and identify any shortcomings. 102 103 36 https://findyourpollingstation.uec.gov.mm/ For instance Article III(b)(2) of the Dili Indicators of Democratic Elections