education activities were conducted on the ground by the UEC, partly because of the challenging situation brought by the pandemic. On the other hand, the UEC’s voter education efforts gave little attention to ethnic and linguistic minorities. Materials were mainly prepared and presented in the official Myanmar language, thus marginalising large sections of the population. For instance, in Northern Shan states, stakeholders interviewed by ANFREL mentioned that ethnic political parties were the ones providing voter education to the communities, and not election officials. Ethnic Kokang communities largely do not understand Myanmar language so they failed to understand the voting process and the need to check and update the voter lists. Similarly, in Kayin state, it was political parties such as the PPP that provided voter education to ethnic tribes such as the Pa-O and Mon, many of whom were reportedly not even aware of the existence of ethnic-based ballots. All over the country, political parties educated voters on how to cast a ballot by using template ballot papers and teaching them how to recognise their logos. Of course, candidates and supporters would do this more out of self-interest than genuine desire to empower voters in making educated decisions, but this was still an important aspect of ensuring that votes would be cast properly. Voter Education by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Local CSOs played a critical role in educating voters through various outreach activities. However, due to the public health crisis, many CSOs shifted their focus and resources to providing aid, food, and shelter to those affected by the pandemic to the detriment of voter education activities. Limited efforts on voter education and awareness were pursued by the CSOs, a majority of which have only been limited to online mediums. The pandemic-induced restrictions hampered their civic and voter education plans, focusing on women, ethnic minorities, first-time voters, PWDs, and other marginalised sectors. Even before COVID-19, local CSOs reportedly faced operational hurdles in and implementing their civic and voter education efforts as they had to acquire permissions from the local governments. Because of the lack of formal procedures on the application for permission and an unknown timeline for approvals, it was difficult for these groups to plan and implement their activities. Before the elections, local CSOs across the country conducted voter education through small-scale face-to-face meetings. Many also utilised online meetings to reach out to voters. In contrast with voter education by political parties that mainly focused on the polling process with partisan interest, CSO's voter education initiatives also highlighted civil rights and awareness-raising to encourage informed choices. Despite the unprecedented COVID-19 situation, CSOs came up with innovative solutions to promote voter education. New Myanmar Foundation (NMF), Myanmar Network Organization for Free and Fair Election (MYNFREL), BadeiDha Moe for instance utilised online video conferences to organise seminars for first-time voters, IDPs, etc. Women LEAD in Northern Shan state conducted training of trainers on voter and civic education to women from its partner organisations. Kanbawza Youth Library in Southern Shan state used booklets to reach out to the community. They distributed booklets with the content of democracy, voting process, voter’s responsibilities, etc. Other prominent voter education campaigns included MYNFREL’s “check the voter list” and “go to vote” campaigns, where they went to the villages to spread awareness by using loudspeakers and pasting posters in public places; small group voter education by Peacock Generation, a youthfocused CSO, where they gathered small groups of people in villages to educate them about the voting processes. 41