As of Aug 3, commune councils posted 653,986 names on "blacklists" in their offices. The councils officially propose that these names be deleted from the voter register. If a citizen suspects that his name has been wrongly blacklisted, he must now come to the council office, check if his name is on the deletion list, then file a complaint if his name is there. If he does not do so, his name will be erased from the register, and he will be ineligible to vote.
This process directly contradicts a basic principle of justice: that the burden of proof lies with the accuser, not the accused. Currently, if the authorities decree that your name should be deleted from the official register, you bear the burden of proof to show them that they are wrong. This process is unjust.
The burden of proof should not weigh on the shoulders of the innocent, busy, poor and often illiterate, but rather with those who allege that a name should be erased. The burden must be shifted by requiring the authorities to provide evidence for any name set for deletion—a death certificate, witnesses attesting that a person has permanently moved away from the commune, etc.
The Sam Rainsy Party will demand such proof for each name on the blacklist in every village in the country. If it is not provided, and the names are still deleted, then the legitimacy of the 2008 election will be called into question.
This problem of unjustified blacklisting would not be so widespread if the authorities had considered for deletion only the names of people who did not vote in April's commune election. I wrote a letter to the editor of The Cambodia Daily on Aug 6 highlighting two benefits of this approach: less effort required (investigating only 2.7 million names of non-voters rather than 7.8 million names of eligible voters) and reduced likelihood of blacklisting those who are eligible to vote. Since this proposal was not heeded, the authorities must now put in extra effort to minimize unjustified blacklisting, a problem of their own creation.
In their attempt to "clean" the voter register, the authorities must recognize unjustified blacklisting as a denial of democratic rights, unless they are engineering it as a means to improve their odds in the 2008 election by disenfranchising opponents.
Sam Rainsy,
SRP President
This process directly contradicts a basic principle of justice: that the burden of proof lies with the accuser, not the accused. Currently, if the authorities decree that your name should be deleted from the official register, you bear the burden of proof to show them that they are wrong. This process is unjust.
The burden of proof should not weigh on the shoulders of the innocent, busy, poor and often illiterate, but rather with those who allege that a name should be erased. The burden must be shifted by requiring the authorities to provide evidence for any name set for deletion—a death certificate, witnesses attesting that a person has permanently moved away from the commune, etc.
The Sam Rainsy Party will demand such proof for each name on the blacklist in every village in the country. If it is not provided, and the names are still deleted, then the legitimacy of the 2008 election will be called into question.
This problem of unjustified blacklisting would not be so widespread if the authorities had considered for deletion only the names of people who did not vote in April's commune election. I wrote a letter to the editor of The Cambodia Daily on Aug 6 highlighting two benefits of this approach: less effort required (investigating only 2.7 million names of non-voters rather than 7.8 million names of eligible voters) and reduced likelihood of blacklisting those who are eligible to vote. Since this proposal was not heeded, the authorities must now put in extra effort to minimize unjustified blacklisting, a problem of their own creation.
In their attempt to "clean" the voter register, the authorities must recognize unjustified blacklisting as a denial of democratic rights, unless they are engineering it as a means to improve their odds in the 2008 election by disenfranchising opponents.
Sam Rainsy,
SRP President
3 comments:
With all the effort by Mr. Sam Rainsy and Cambodia still go back to square one!
But at least he had some voices in NA
Sam Rainsy's biggest obstacle is cheating by the opposition. If you can't beat em', cheat em'. That's how Cambodia politics work.
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