SRP: Irregularities in election management risk delegitimizing April commune elections

February 15, 2007

IRREGULARITIES IN ELECTION MANAGEMENT RISK
DELEGITIMIZING APRIL COMMUNE ELECTIONS

In order for voting results to legitimately reflect the will of the electorate, the administration of all steps in the election process must be professional and impartial. The devil lies in the details. The SRP has obtained a copy of the voter lists in every commune in the country. After investigating the content of the lists, the SRP is concerned that the results of Cambodia’s 2007 commune election will not reflect the will of voters due to two broad problems:

I. Irregularities in the Final Voters Lists
II. Failures in Administering Voter Information Notices

Irregularities in the Final Voters Lists

New voter lists have been built for this election, modified versions of the 2005 lists. The SRP is aware of at least five types of irregularities in the content of the final voters lists created in 2006 for the April 2007 commune election:

1. Some new voters (first-time voters and voters who have moved to a new commune) who registered in October, 2006 do not appear on the new lists. These new voters received a receipt upon registration – form 2022 – but their names cannot be found on the final lists for their commune of residence.
2. Some citizens discovered mistakes in the 2005 voting lists (including spelling of name, address, gender or age) and followed the proper procedures to have these mistakes corrected. NEC has not implemented these citizen-initiated adjustments as evidenced by supporting documents.
3. The names of some voters from the old lists who should have retained their eligibility for the upcoming election were deleted. Some of these voters are opposition candidates and party agents.
4. In previous hearings, CECs and NEC agreed to remove from the lists the names of ineligible persons (e.g. Vietnamese non-citizens). Some of these names have wrongly re-appeared on the new lists.
5. Some names on the old lists were shown to be ghost voters – they have never lived and have never been known to anybody living in the same commune. These names have not been removed from the new lists.

In the first three cases, eligible voters may be wrongfully turned away from their polling stations on election day. In the fourth case, ineligible voters may wrongfully be given voice. In the last case, the risk arises that votes could be tallied from people who do not even exist. The confluence of all of these irregularities sets the stage for an election that does not accurately reflect the will of the Cambodian voting public.

Failures in Administering Voter Information Notices

Two serious failures in administering voter information notices have increased the opacity of the voting process to such an extent that some eligible voters will be prevented from casting their ballots.

First, the issuance of voter information notices, which should be free of discrimination, has been implemented in a flagrantly politicized manner. Notices (as well as verbal information, explanation and guidance) have been distributed selectively to CPP supporters, while non CPP supporters have not received anything.

Second, voter information as mentioned on the notice is often misleading for non CPP supporters. For instance, in Poipet, voters are being directed to the wrong polling stations. When they arrive to vote at their supposed polling station, their names will not be on the voter list for that station, and they will be turned away.

SRP General Secretariat

For more information, contact 012 831 040