The census of the Rakhine state will be taken on January 9th for the upcoming election

Narinjara News, 2 January 2023

For the election to be held by the Military Council in 2023, the population census of the entire Rakhine state will be taken door to door on January 9th.

This Census was taken to prepare the ballots for the election to be held in August 2023.

A training session for the working groups that will conduct door-to-door population census was held on December 20th at the U Ottama hall in Sittwe township.

 “It is the state-level training course of the Field Census Oversight Committee. A total of 109 people, not only from Rakhine but also from Paletwa township of Chin state attended the course”, a trainee told Narinjara.

 1290 groups with 6940 members will be formed to collect the census in the field on January 9th, U Hla Thein, Chief Legal Officer for Rakhine State government under the Military Council wrote on his social media account on December 20th.

 “Census will be taken on 9.1.2023. We will work with 1290 groups with 6940 members. The fifth step in the 5 objectives of the State Administration Council (the Military Regime) is to compile a voter list to hold elections. Since the exact population statistics of Rakhine state will come out, it will definitely help when implementing the state's development plans. It is also part of the effort to hold elections in August 2023”, he wrote.

 When Narinjara contacted U Thurein Htut, Secretary of the Election Commission (Rakhine State   division) regarding the issue of taking the census in Rakhine State, he said that nothing is being done at the moment and that still waiting for the list from the Immigration Department.

 It is also planned to add the household registration forms (66/6) currently carried by that local people in various townships of Rakhine state, to a high-tech e-ID software, print them out through it, and conduct a door-to-door census.