Will officials be able to track us down?

SHAN NEWS
As 10 May draws near, one of the growing concerns among eligible voters in northern Shan State is that the polling officials will discover who they are if they vote No, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.


“The ballot papers will either have our signatures or thumb prints and our serial numbers,” one Muse resident told SHAN when asked whether she would put a cross standing for No, or a tick standing for Yes.

A number of other respondents also voiced the same concern.

They calmed down only when SHAN explained to them that part of the ballot paper containing the voter’s identity and serial number, in civilized countries, would remain with the polling officials while the other part where the voter would either tick or cross as he/she wishes would have nothing to pinpoint him or her.

A Thai citizen, upon learning the plight, traced up a sample of the ballot paper used at the 19 August 2007 referendum on the kingdom’s latest draft constitution for SHAN from the Thai website: www.ect.go.th.

However, it appears that Burma’s ballot paper will have only a single blank to put in either a tick or a cross, according to sources.

Of all the respondents, only one, a southern gentleman, replied he had decided to say Yes. “This is the first chance to fight the system from within,” he told SHAN without elaboration.

Only two of the respondents say they have read the draft charter while others swear they have yet to see them. Copies of the draft charter were released for sale to the public only 11 days ago.


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