NEC DELETES NAMES OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS
BUT KEEPS GHOST VOTERS ON THE ELECTORAL ROLLS
FOR BALLOT TAMPERING
BUT KEEPS GHOST VOTERS ON THE ELECTORAL ROLLS
FOR BALLOT TAMPERING
A July 20 report from the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (Comfrel) says that officials in 10% of the communes had misunderstood directions about the voter list cleaning process. A newer, August 1, Comfrel report lists incidents observed through July 31 and shows "new irregularities that could affect the efficacy of the list cleaning process and lead to people losing their voting right." In a front page article in the August 2 edition of the Khmer newspaper Koh Santepheap, Tep Nytha, Secretary General of the National Election Committee (NEC), is quoted as saying that upwards to 1.4 million names could be deleted from the official voter rolls, nearly three times the number already submitted for deletion. The large number of names to be deleted and the high chance of irregularities is a serious concern if the election is to be deemed as truly reflecting the will of the electorate.
The NEC could decrease both its workload and the number of errors by restricting the set of names to be examined from all eligible voters to only those people who did not vote in the April 2007 commune election.
5.1 million Cambodians voted in April for commune councilors out of an official figure of 7.8 million eligible voters. The NEC has tasked village chiefs to examine every house in their villages to determine whether the name should be cleared. The work of the chiefs could be reduced to a third of its current level if the chiefs were tasked to investigate only the homes of people who did not vote in the commune election. The rolls from election day will show which persons voted and which did not. If, following the rationale behind the "cleaning" process, we are only seeking to delete names of people who do not exist (ghost voters), have died, moved, or double registered, all of these names will be found among the 2.7 million non-voters. The 65% of Cambodians who voted in April are obviously alive, residing in the village, and registered there. Chiefs should only investigate the 35% of names of people who did not vote - there will be a much higher concentration here of names that should be deleted, and we will overcome the great risk, noted by Comfrel, of deleting the names of eligible voters.
Actually, the NEC refuses to publicly investigate into the 2.7 million non-voters because it wants to keep ghost voters on the electoral rolls for ballot tampering at next year's election, while currently deleting names of eligible voters who have been identified by CPP-affiliated village chiefs as non-CPP supporters.
SRP Members of Parliament
The NEC could decrease both its workload and the number of errors by restricting the set of names to be examined from all eligible voters to only those people who did not vote in the April 2007 commune election.
5.1 million Cambodians voted in April for commune councilors out of an official figure of 7.8 million eligible voters. The NEC has tasked village chiefs to examine every house in their villages to determine whether the name should be cleared. The work of the chiefs could be reduced to a third of its current level if the chiefs were tasked to investigate only the homes of people who did not vote in the commune election. The rolls from election day will show which persons voted and which did not. If, following the rationale behind the "cleaning" process, we are only seeking to delete names of people who do not exist (ghost voters), have died, moved, or double registered, all of these names will be found among the 2.7 million non-voters. The 65% of Cambodians who voted in April are obviously alive, residing in the village, and registered there. Chiefs should only investigate the 35% of names of people who did not vote - there will be a much higher concentration here of names that should be deleted, and we will overcome the great risk, noted by Comfrel, of deleting the names of eligible voters.
Actually, the NEC refuses to publicly investigate into the 2.7 million non-voters because it wants to keep ghost voters on the electoral rolls for ballot tampering at next year's election, while currently deleting names of eligible voters who have been identified by CPP-affiliated village chiefs as non-CPP supporters.
SRP Members of Parliament
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