Thursday, July 10, 2008

Announcement on Electoral Irregularities, 3 July 2008

Phnom Penh, 10 July 2008
Source: SRP

Announcement on Electoral Irregularities, 3 July 2008

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) has received complaints of electoral irregularities perpetrated by the ruling party, the Cambodian People Party (CPP), and by the National Election Committee (NEC) officials in July 2008.

Listed below are incidents that citizens have reported to the SRP:

1) Village chiefs and CPP officials distributed information about voting only to people they knew supported the CPP. The village chief also told the people that if they didn't have this voter information, they could not vote, leading to confusion and misunderstanding since many eligible voters did not receive voter information. The SRP requests that the electoral officials (NEC) push for voting information to be provided to everyone, regardless of political affiliation, and to tell the population that even those who did not receive the information can still vote.

2) The CPP went door-to-door to the houses of the population and forced people to check the CPP logo on a sample ballot sheet as an exercise for voters to practice voting. This is a violation of the principle of the secrecy of the vote and the freedom of choice of political affiliation. The NEC must immediately take measures to stop these practices that try to persuade the population to vote for a particular party.

3) There have been accusations that CPP commune chiefs have distributed pre-signed and pre-stamped Form #1018 to members of the population who do not have voter registration papers. They also gave out "ghost names" of dead people that are registered in the NEC so that people who would normally not be able to vote could use the names to illegally vote for the CPP. These activities are a means of vote-stealing and the NEC must take measures to put an end to them.

4) The CPP went door-to-door and collected pictures from residents with the excuse that they would only use the pictures for local administrative purposes. In reality, the pictures were used to make CPP membership cards. This is an illegal activity because it forces the population to join a political party without their consent.

The SRP asks local and international observers to please pay close attention to these incidents and push for an end to violations in order to help guarantee that the elections to be held on 27 July 2008 are free and fair.

Secretary General

For more information, please contact 012 858 857.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What is wrong with CPP serving their supporters? Can these people getting help from Ah Savage Scam Raixy, othewise?