National Election Committee started to publish preliminary voter lists for Cambodia's 1,621 communes

KHMER INTELLIGENCE

27 October 2007

Controversial voter lists published today (1)

Today the National Election Committee (NEC) started to publish
preliminary voter lists for Cambodia's 1,621 communes, totaling
8,027,706 voters for the whole country, a net increase of 228,335
eligible voters over last year (893,131 names added; 664,796 names
deleted). However, the tentative lists which were posted today at all
the country's commune offices, are being contested by the opposition
Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). According to Sam Rainsy, who held a press
conference today in Phnom Penh, the voter register has been
manipulated nationwide by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP),
through the NEC, so as to secure election victory for the CPP before
even voting day (27 July 2008):

- Tens of thousands of names have been artificially added to inflate
voter lists (ghost voters whose names will be fraudulently used by the
CPP on voting day, such as the 15,000 names contested by the SRP in
Poipet commune alone).

- Tens of thousands of (real) citizens who wanted to register as
voters, were not able to do so, especially non-CPP supporters, because
of lack of information, administrative harassment and organized
confusion.

- CPP-controlled commune councils have arbitrarily deleted 573,981
names (out of the 664,796 names mentioned above) without producing
evidence that the concerned persons are really dead or have really and
permanently moved away from their commune. A significant portion of
the targeted names appear to be those of non-CPP voters, who are
therefore unfairly disenfranchised.

- Whereas citizens who are disenfranchised are all Cambodian
nationals, tens of thousands of foreign nationals (newly arrived
immigrants with no voting right) continue to be included in the voter
lists despite countless complaints lodged by the opposition.

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