Speaking Xmer with Xmer accent is no ground for disqualification: Xee-P-P commune clerk

Officials Face Allegations of Illegal Immigrants on Voter Lists

Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 November 2007

Opposition leaders Thursday claimed that illegal Vietnamese were being put on voter rosters, as authorities were quick to point out that many Vietnamese do in fact have the right to vote.

The issue of Vietnamese, who may or may not be Cambodian nationals, is common in local and national elections. Ethnic Vietnamese have lived in Cambodia since the 18th Century. An estimated 200,000 of 600,000 were killed in the violence of the 1960s and 1970s, and many fled to Vietnam following the Khmer Rouge takeover.

Many returned after the fall of the Khmer Rouge and are citizens with the right to vote.

But illegal aliens use many strategies to get their names on lists, including bribery and name change, Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Ho Van said Thursday.

SRP second clerk Heng Soth said he had seen registration of "Vietnamese names" undertaken by people who "spoke Khmer with a bad accent."

Commune clerk Chhean Nara said accents were not grounds for voter disqualification.

"What is important is first that person has an ID and second that the people are residents of the local areas," he said. "They have documents to back them up, such as birth certificates or passports."

The debate should not be about names, he said. "The focus is on...what documents the person has."

Comfrel Director Koul Panha said the National Election Committee had not tried to solve the controversy "to the utmost."

The opposition demands the removal of Vietnamese nationals from the voting list

29 October 2007
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A representative of the SRP in Sampov Poun commune, Koh Thom district, Kandal province, claimed that he plans to bring a legal complaint to the commune council in November to demand for the removal of the names of some 700 Vietnamese immigrants from the voting list for the upcoming 2008 general election.

The opposition accuses that it found the names of 702 Vietnamese immigrants included in the voting list for the upcoming 2008 general election. The names are compiled from the lists posted in 7 of the 21 vote registration offices in the Sampov Poun commune. The opposition claims that it will continue to uncover more names.

Ouch Siek Ran, a SRP representative in the Sampov Poun commune, told RFA on Monday: “I know that these names are Yuon names because both the family and the first names are not Cambodian, they are immigrants, and we have all the documents.”

Eng Chhay Eang, SRP Secretary-general, reacted by saying that his party found several other (Vietnamese) names all over the country, and that they all are similar to the case above. “They (NEC) instead pay attention to the removal of the names of Cambodian citizens, this is very unfair. The SRP will prepare more complaints about this issue.”

Regarding the accusation above, Tep Nytha, NEC secretary-general, said that the NEC will leave a 5-day period, i.e. until 02 November, for the population to bring forth their complaints if they found irregularities on the voting list which included previously registered names.

Tep Nytha added: “A citizen or anyone who has sufficient proof to show that these names belong to immigrants, they can bring their complaints to the commune council to remove these names from the voting list.”

Dr. Pung Chiv Kek, President of the human rights group Licadho, commented by saying: “We want the people to see that the NEC is independent and that it is not biased, that it is doing its work properly, therefore the information provided must be discussed and researched again, and measures must be taken.”

The NEC just closed all its offices in the country on 20 October, and it announced that there are 890,000 Cambodian citizens who registered to vote. The NEC will provide 5-day, i.e. until 02 November, for Cambodian citizens to protest if they found irregularities in the voting registration.

The problem of Vietnamese immigrants is a noticeable issue which usually led to squabbles among Cambodian politicians, especially during the period leading to the election.

A number of groups have accused that several millions of Vietnamese immigrants are currently living in Cambodia, but the government always reject this accusation.