22 August

The Union Election Commission and the Ministry of Information held a meeting yesterday on preparatory works prior to the 2020 General Election at the meeting room of the UEC office in Nay Pyi Taw.

In his opening address at the meeting, UEC Chairman U Hla Thein outlined five norms for the 2020 General Election — the polls will be free, fair, transparent, credible, and reflect the will of the people. 

He also urged the Ministry of Information to undertake civic education programmes and voter education programmes and to engage in awareness building activities ahead of the election.

“There are 20 working processes to be done jointly by the UEC and the Ministry of Information in the pre-election, election, and the post-election period. Election work cannot be done alone by the election commission, and the Ministry of Information needs to collaborate in it. The particular role of civic education includes disseminating information about political parties, their candidates, their policies and political platforms, and electoral procedures,” he said. 

Then, the Union Minister for Information, Dr Pe Myint, said the meeting was being held with the aims of ensuring the smooth running of the 2020 General Election, making preparatory measures, and cooperating in electoral work with the UEC. 

“Arrangements have been made to use the community centres of the IPRD offices in townships around the country to conduct voter education programmes. The Ministry of Information is ready to cooperate with the UEC in the smooth running of the election processes,” he said.

Thereafter, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information, U Myo Myint Maung, and officials discussed the work to be carried out, and the event concluded with closing remarks by the UEC Chairman. 

The event was attended by members of the UEC Commission, officials from the Commission Office and the Ministry of Information. —MNA (Translated by Win Ko Ko Aung)