Nay Pyi Taw, March (9)
The military council, which extended the country’s state of emergency for another six months, has announced that it will conduct a nationwide population and household census in October 2024.
U Myint Kyaing, Union Minister of the junta’s Ministry of Immigration and Population, spoke at a workshop on March 6 in Nay Pyi Taw to the staff who will participate in the collection of population data.
The reference time for the census is set as midnight on September 30, 2024, and the data collection will be taken for 15 days from October 1 to 15.
Preparations for the census, including collecting and compiling data, and reporting, are currently underway, and the collection of population data is expected to last 54 months, from October 2024 to March 2026, under four processes.
U Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, criticized the fact that, looking at this information, the military council is facing an uncertain situation to hold the election, and it is impossible to hold the election simultaneously nationwide this year.
At the military council’s meeting on February 23, the military leader said that the national census needs to be retaken to correct the population data and voter lists.
If the country is not back to normal by the end of July, when the current six-month state of emergency expires, the election will not be held, political analysts say, and junta leaders may use other methods to hold on power.
The military council reported that the staff will go door-to-door using Mobile tablets to collect the population census.
According to estimates based on the population and household census conducted in 2014, as of October 1, 2022, the estimated population of Myanmar is 55.8 million.
News-Than Lwin Times