Yangon Municipal Election Commission to spend 2-billion kyats budget

11 January 2019
Yangon Municipal Election Commission to spend 2-billion kyats budget
Tourists walking in front of City Hall in the downtown area of Yangon. Photo: Ye Aung Thu/AFP

 Yangon municipal election commission Chairman Aung Khaing said that Yangon Region government would spend 2-billion kyats budget to hold a municipal election on March 31, 2019 for Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC).

In the last municipal election held in 2014, only the head of each household over 18 years old age could vote in the election and people in Yangon had less interest in this election.

“This election will be different from 2014 election. In 2014, only head of each household could vote in this election. But in this forthcoming election all voters who have attained 18 years of age and have lived in respective constituency for at least one year can vote. So, the number of eligible voters will be higher than last election. We learned that Yangon Region government allocated 2 billion kyats for this municipal election of YCDC,” Municipal Election Commission Chairman Aung Khaing said.

In this election, YCDC will have 11 YCDC members including Deputy Mayor and 99 township members will be elected from 33 Townships in Yangon municipal areas with 3 members from each township.

Among the 11 YCDC members, six including Yangon Deputy Mayor will be directly elected by voters and remaining five members will be appointed by Yangon Region government. These directly elected six YCDC members must pay 500,000 kyat each as registration fees and township representatives must pay 200,000 kyats each as registration fees.

The candidates of this YCDC election must submit their applications starting from January 18 and submission of applications will be closed on January 28.

The candidates will have a one-month campaign period from February 28 to March 29.