The Kachin State People’s Party (KSPP) is opting not to sign off on voting reports—known as Form 19—in three constituencies in Kachin State, describing the November 8 general election as “unfair.”
Naw Hkung, the KSPP’s youth director, told KNG that they suspected military votes, financial issues, and defamation of causing the party to lose in Sumprabum, Machanbaw, and Waingmaw townships.
He said that Tatmadaw soldiers’ votes in Sumprabum skewed the results for the township, and in Machanbaw, other parties had spread defamatory messages about the KSPP, while in Waingmaw, he alleged that the government had used its own budget, rather than the campaign budget, to carry out projects meant to woo voters.
“We felt it was unfair to us. That’s why we didn’t sign Form 19,” Naw Hkung said.
The KSPP candidates who did not sign off on the voting reports—a symbolic rejection of the electoral results—were Duwa Gumgrawng Awng Hkam in Sumprabum, Hpung San in Machanbaw, and Lum Zawng in Waingmaw.
“I feel like it was chauvinism,” Duwa Gumgrawng Awng Hkam said of the electoral process and why he did not sign the forms accepting the results. “According to the Union Election Commission, even if we do not sign Form 19, the election results are approved. I don’t want to complain about whether the election is approved of or not. I didn’t sign off on it because I felt it was unfair to us.”
He also opted not to sign Form 16, which shows the results from each polling station. Form 19 is a combination of the results from Form 16 and Form 18, which details the results of advance votes.
The KSPP won one seat in the Lower House and three seats in the Kachin State parliament in the general election
