By Den Sorin
Moneakseka Khmer
Translated from Khmer
A senior Interior Ministry official who has been closely monitoring the elections said that previously national and international observers did not pay much attention to the trick of cheating on the voter names although some party agents complained about the irregularities in voting, such as one person using two or three names to vote or one person voting two or three times. Now that many ghost voter names have been detected, everybody starts paying attention and becoming alarmed.
The same Interior Ministry official also said that the majority of commune/precinct councilors are from the Cambodian People's Party [CPP] and almost all of the commune clerks are from the CPP. In the second commune/precinct council elections scheduled for 2007, the CPP has already prepared the voter name lists through its local officials who constitute the greatest majority, such as the village chiefs, the commune/precinct councilors, and the commune clerks.
However, because of some miscues at some communes/precincts and between the upper and lower levels, the CPP made a few missteps, allowing many ghost voter names to come into the open.
The same Interior Ministry official said that people are used to hear about ghost soldiers and ghost police officers. In particular, the current society counts the most ghost soldiers and ghost policemen. However, now people start hearing about ghost voters as well. Is this not funny?
According to Tep Nitha, secretary-general of the NEC [National Election Committee], there are now about 150,000 voter names, or 2 percent, that exceed the number of the registered voters.
The Interior Ministry official said that the CPP intends to prevent people who support other parties from registering to vote, meaning that it facilitates access to registration to only those who support it. The village chiefs, it was learned, send reports to the communes that contained excessive or redundant names. This is because the CPP has a policy that encourages village chiefs to persuade many people to support the CPP. Any village chiefs that succeed in convincing more supporters for the CPP would receive many gifts and rewards, such as motorcycles. Therefore, because they want to have these material goods, many village chiefs would make up reports or lists containing excessive numbers of CPP supporters or containing many people with the same names, causing the phenomenon of ghost voters. This has made it difficult for the NEC, the tool of the ruling party, to resolve or to lie about.
However, in order to avoid charges that tricks are being used in the elections, NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha in a move to smooth out the situation ostensibly said that people would not be able to use the ghost names to vote because the NEC has already appointed six neutral persons to guard all polling stations during the elections.
The senior Interior Ministry official posed this question: Where are you going to get these neutral persons if the NEC itself is not neutral?
According to Mrs. Pung Chhiv-kek, director of the NGO Ligue cambodgienne pour la protection et la defense des droits de l'homme ( LICADHO), said that maintaining the ghost voter names on the lists was probably the interesting work of some officials at the communal or provincial levels, the majority of whom are members of the CPP. Although concerning this matter, CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith, claimed that the ruling party would not interfere in the voter name lists, Mrs. Pung Chhiv-kek said, I think it could be the mistake of a number of people, but it also could be intentionally organized.
The Interior Ministry official said that there is no doubt whatsoever that at each election the CPP uses tricks to win it. Therefore, the international community can take this into consideration and must closely follow the issue to prevent the despot from using tricks to grasp powers, which would be counter to the wish of the people who cast their votes for one person but in the end might see a totally different person declared the winner.
The same Interior Ministry official also said that the majority of commune/precinct councilors are from the Cambodian People's Party [CPP] and almost all of the commune clerks are from the CPP. In the second commune/precinct council elections scheduled for 2007, the CPP has already prepared the voter name lists through its local officials who constitute the greatest majority, such as the village chiefs, the commune/precinct councilors, and the commune clerks.
However, because of some miscues at some communes/precincts and between the upper and lower levels, the CPP made a few missteps, allowing many ghost voter names to come into the open.
The same Interior Ministry official said that people are used to hear about ghost soldiers and ghost police officers. In particular, the current society counts the most ghost soldiers and ghost policemen. However, now people start hearing about ghost voters as well. Is this not funny?
According to Tep Nitha, secretary-general of the NEC [National Election Committee], there are now about 150,000 voter names, or 2 percent, that exceed the number of the registered voters.
The Interior Ministry official said that the CPP intends to prevent people who support other parties from registering to vote, meaning that it facilitates access to registration to only those who support it. The village chiefs, it was learned, send reports to the communes that contained excessive or redundant names. This is because the CPP has a policy that encourages village chiefs to persuade many people to support the CPP. Any village chiefs that succeed in convincing more supporters for the CPP would receive many gifts and rewards, such as motorcycles. Therefore, because they want to have these material goods, many village chiefs would make up reports or lists containing excessive numbers of CPP supporters or containing many people with the same names, causing the phenomenon of ghost voters. This has made it difficult for the NEC, the tool of the ruling party, to resolve or to lie about.
However, in order to avoid charges that tricks are being used in the elections, NEC Secretary-General Tep Nitha in a move to smooth out the situation ostensibly said that people would not be able to use the ghost names to vote because the NEC has already appointed six neutral persons to guard all polling stations during the elections.
The senior Interior Ministry official posed this question: Where are you going to get these neutral persons if the NEC itself is not neutral?
According to Mrs. Pung Chhiv-kek, director of the NGO Ligue cambodgienne pour la protection et la defense des droits de l'homme ( LICADHO), said that maintaining the ghost voter names on the lists was probably the interesting work of some officials at the communal or provincial levels, the majority of whom are members of the CPP. Although concerning this matter, CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith, claimed that the ruling party would not interfere in the voter name lists, Mrs. Pung Chhiv-kek said, I think it could be the mistake of a number of people, but it also could be intentionally organized.
The Interior Ministry official said that there is no doubt whatsoever that at each election the CPP uses tricks to win it. Therefore, the international community can take this into consideration and must closely follow the issue to prevent the despot from using tricks to grasp powers, which would be counter to the wish of the people who cast their votes for one person but in the end might see a totally different person declared the winner.
2 comments:
In the world of magic, it is the hands that are faster than the eye!
Some stupid Cambodian people and the rest of the world community will never understand what is happening in Cambodia until one day! Kar-Boom! Kar-Boom! Kar-Boom!
stand up all "kon khmer" select the one that love our country not sold all things including children...to "ke".....stand up..stand up..and believe in your self not thinking that other country will love you than your self....your vote is important for you and you only...who gave the land land to vietnam....who loan the money the most for the pass hundreds of year....your children will pay for it...who care about cpp or other party but who will serve your country...go for it...
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