Susan Lee

On Sunday, November 8, more than 30 million voters in Myanmar went to the polls to cast their votes for members of the Union Parliament as well as for the 14 state and region parliaments. These were the first elections in many decades in which an astounding 91 diverse political parties participated. Given that many were voting for the first time, the Union Election Commission, political parties, and hundreds of civil society organizations provided much-needed voter education.

On September 27, 112 developers and designers gathered in Yangon for the finale of the MaePaySoh (Let’s Vote) Hack Challenge, a competition to develop web and mobile applications that provide voters access to essential information…

When 32 million Myanmar voters go to the polls on November 8 to choose their representatives in national, state, and regional parliaments, many will be voting for just the first or second time in their lives. After decades of military rule, this will be Myanmar’s first election in which all political parties will participate, with 91 parties fielding 6,074 candidates.

Myanmar is preparing for historic elections later this year, but with the country’s limited electoral experience, voter outreach and education are critical challenges. Recently, The Asia Foundation sponsored a study tour for a delegation from Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) to Indonesia, which itself has undergone a democratic transition and recently held general elections.