Narinjara News, 2January 2023

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

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

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

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

 1290 groups with6940 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 theMilitary Council wrote on his social media account on December 20th.

 “Census will betaken on 9.1.2023. We will work with 1290 groups with 6940 members. The fifthstep in the 5 objectives of the State Administration Council (the MilitaryRegime) is to compile a voter list to hold elections. Since the exactpopulation statistics of Rakhine state will come out, it will definitely helpwhen implementing the state's development plans. It is also part of the effortto hold elections in August 2023”, he wrote.

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

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